NSERC Alliance Missions Project: "Integrated measurements of GHG emissions at an intermediate port"

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Project Overview:

This SMU-led project is a partnership that aims to connect and advance scientific capacity in atmospheric science (Principal Applicant Dr. Aldona Wiacek, SMU, Halifax), oceanography (Co-Applicant Dr. Douglas Wallace, Dalhousie University, Halifax), marine microbial ecology (Co-Applicant Dr. Julie Laroche, Dalhousie University, Halifax), and air-sea gas flux measurement technology (SMU, Dalhousie, and industry partner Eosense Inc., Halifax) to improve the understanding of marine sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the scale of an intermediate-size port, with the Halifax Port Authority serving as a critical partner. The research will account for both direct emissions (e.g. from new ship fuels) and changing emissions from harbour waters impacted by human activity and climate change.

The project will involve undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, industry researchers and interns to gather and analyze data in Halifax Harbour. Focusing primarily on the powerful GHG nitrous oxide (N₂O) the goals of the 3-year partnership (2023-2026) are to:

1. Establish the baseline conditions and monitor the impacts of new fuels on emissions of GHGs from the marine sector;
2. Determine the magnitude of GHG emissions (fluxes) from coastal waters and their sensitivity to direct and indirect anthropogenic disturbance;
3. Critically evaluate the attribution of variability in atmospheric measurements to direct vs. indirect GHG emissions;
4. Provide public information about GHG sources and magnitudes within the Port of Halifax.

Research Need:

Canada's marine transportation sector is key to its trade and prosperity and also a support system for communities and industries along our extensive coasts and lakes. However this sector is difficult to decarbonize and meeting net zero GHG emission goals will require new technologies, and assessment of their effectiveness as they are introduced. Shipping fuels are changing, with green hydrogen and derivatives like methanol and ammonia competing in a race to replace bunker fuel. The shipping industry, and especially ports and harbours, will need to evaluate the direct impacts of new fuels on greenhouse gas budgets, including when vessels are not operating efficiently, which can lead to emissions of the powerful GHG N₂O. Ports are an obvious focal point for such assessments and they also require data about GHG emissions to guide their own developments and operations. On the other hand, human activities can alter "natural" sources and sinks of GHGs. For example, marine microbes produce N₂O and they are highly sensitive to dissolved oxygen concentrations and inputs of nitrogen to harbours from wastewater and runoff. Oxygen concentrations can in turn be altered by changed circulation of a port due to dredging or construction, and by climate change and ocean warming. Therefore, "natural" emissions of GHGs from coastal waters, which can amount to at least 20% of port emissions in a given year, are subject to change due to direct disturbance by port activities and indirect anthropogenic disturbances such as climate change. This project considers a variety of GHG emissions in a port setting (anthropogenic, natural, direct and indirect) using an integrated approach, i.e., bringing together techniques from atmospheric science, oceanography and marine microbial ecology.

Research Approach:

The figure below illustrates the integrated measurement strategy of direct GHG emissions from ships (atmospheric science, spectrometer and telescope) and indirect GHG emissions from the aquatic harbour environment (oceanography and marine microbiology, together with floating GHG flux chamber measurements).

Industry Partner: Eosense Inc.

Eosense is a Canadian company headquartered in Dartmouth Nova Scotia that designs and manufactures gas monitoring instruments that enable scientists and engineers to measure environmental gas emissions. Monitoring of greenhouse gasses (GHG) in aquatic environments is important to closing regional and global GHG balances and for determining controls on and ways to manage these gas emissions. While not a part of the key product portfolio to date, Eosense has had many requests for on-water flux measurements, however the methods need significant R&D to be applied robustly at a commercial scale. This project offers Eosense the opportunity to provide critical GHG emissions data to the scientific team while performing product R&D and product testing in harsh environments.

Port Partner: The PIER and the Halifax Port Authority (HPA)

The HPA manages the assets of the crown through revenue generation and re-investment in infrastructure. They are accountable for the long-term planning and development of that infrastructure to maintain and grow activities within the port in a responsible, sustainable way, with impacts extending well beyond Halifax Harbour and the harbour limit line. In 2021, the Port of Halifax handled 595,751 TEUs of containerized cargo and generated $4.37 billion in economic output ($2.72 billion direct), with further direct and spin-off positive impacts of $2.22 billion in GDP, $1.42 billion in labour income and over 22,400 jobs.

The PIER at the Seaport, which stands for Port Innovation, Engagement & Research, is both a physical and a virtual space where supply chain partners can work alongside innovators, tech companies and leading research groups to grow together, to develop new ways of doing things, and to find solutions to challenging problems. The Halifax Port Authority is actively exploring decarbonization options and opportunities. Ports have a unique role, not only for their own decarbonisation but more broadly in assisting municipalities and provinces with energy transition. In addition to our involvement with the Atlantic Hydrogen Alliance, we are a member of the Global Ports Hydrogen Coalition, and more recently, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hamburg Port Authority to decarbonize the shipping corridor between Halifax and Hamburg. We are working to determine the port’s role in energy transition including bunkering services, assisting the city in its energy transition, as a user of hydrogen for port related equipment, and the storage and export of hydrogen-based derivatives.

The Halifax Port Authority sees tremendous benefit in this research for the marine transportation sector. The data collected will provide deeper understanding of the current carbon footprint of marine transportation, as measured in an ambient environment, and offer a reliable benchmark for comparing the impact of decarbonization efforts over time, e.g., the immediate and evolving impacts of fuel transitioning to ammonia or methanol. This information will help inform mitigation strategies and demonstrate the change of implementation of same strategies. Partnering on this research via The PIER staff involvement also supports the HPA’s interests in proactively gathering and sharing information in pursuit of Net Zero goals, which The PIER is committed to sharing in an industry-focused workshop reception at the end of this project. Finally The PIER will engage with youth and educators to explore, in real time, how data is used to inform industry decisions.

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