AIR DISPERSION MODELING OF MULTIPLE NATURAL GAS WELL PADS AT DIFFERENT TERRAIN CONDITIONS AND DETERMINATION OF INVERSE DISTANCE WEIGHTING FUNCTION EXPONENT

Abstract

Natural gas production and development has been widely spreading all over the United States. Texas has been leading the nation in natural gas production by holding approximately twenty three percent of the nation’s natural gas reserves. However, natural gas exploration, drilling, production and distribution process have impacts on air quality and human health. The emissions from natural gas processes could be categorized as volatile organic compounds (including Hazardous Air Pollutants), methane, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxides, particulate matter and some other minor emitted pollutants, which have the potential of causing serious health problems and also impact air quality from an environmental point of view. There have been a lot of studies done about natural gas well activities and resulting air pollution, including a complete study on City of Fort Worth natural gas wells in 2011. However, the dispersion modeling of the Fort Worth study was done only on flat-elevated terrain for one well pad (or compressor station) in different scenarios, not including criteria pollutants.