Analysis of Main Factors for CH 4 Emission Factor Development in Manufacturing Industries and Construction Sector

This study has statistically analyzed the effect of boiler type and model year on CH 4 emission factors, focusing on liquefied natural gas (LNG)—the most commonly used fuel in South Korean manufacturing combustion facilities. Samples were collected from the boilers of 39 manufacturing combustion facilities that use LNG fuel. The CH 4 emission factors were developed based on 4 overhead fire-tube boilers, 14 once-through boilers, 14 vertical boilers with vertical water tubes, and 7 other boilers. This resulted in an average value of 0.11 CH 4 kg/TJ, which is considerably lower than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1996 guidelines(G/L) emission factor of 5 CH 4 kg/TJ currently used in South Korea. In the Kruskal–Wallis test results, the significance probability was greater than 0.05 for the boiler types and ages, and there was no major difference in the average distributions, according to the boiler type or age. Therefore, according to the results of this study, the differences in the CH 4 emission factors according to the boiler types and ages are not statistically large, and it was determined that there is no major difference even when the emission factors are applied to different fuel types. However, there was a major difference when the developed factors were compared to the CH 4 emission factor proposed by the IPCC. Thus, there is a need to develop manufacturing combustion CH 4 emission factors that reflect national characteristics.