Nielsen, O.-K., Winther, M., Mikkelsen, M.H., Hoffmann, L., Nielsen, M., Gyldenkærne, S., Fauser, P., Plejdrup, M.S., Albrektsen, R., Hjelgaard, K. & Bruun, H.G. 2011: Annual Danish Informative Inventory Report to UNECE. Emission inventories from the base year of the protocols to year 2009. National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, Denmark. 601 pp. – NERI Technical Report no 821. https://www2.dmu.dk/Pub/FR821.pdf
This report is Denmark’s Annual Informative Inventory Report (IIR) due March 15, 2011 to the UNECE-Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). The report contains information on Denmark’s inventories for all years from the base years of the protocols to 2009.
The gases reported under the LRTAP Convention are SO2, NOX, NMVOC, CO, NH3, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Zn, dioxins/furans, HCB, PAHs, TSP, PM10 and PM2.5.
The annual emission inventory for Denmark is reported in the Nomenclature for Reporting (NFR 2009) format. In December 2008 new reporting guidelines were decided by the EMEP Executive Body. Many of the new elements and demands in the reporting guidelines have not been implemented. The reason for this is that they require significantly more resources, which have not been made available.
The issues addressed in this report are: trends in emissions, description of each NFR category, uncertainty estimates, recalculations, planned improvements and procedures for quality assurance and control. The structure of the report follows to the extent possible the proposed outline.
Responsible institute
The National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), Aarhus University, is on behalf of the Danish Ministry of the Environment responsible for the annual preparation and submission to the UNECE-LRTAP Convention of the Annual Danish Emissions Report and the inventories in the NFR format. NERI participates in meetings under the UNECE Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections and the related expert panels, where parties to the convention prepare the guidelines and methodologies on inventories.
In 1990, the relative contribution in acid equivalents was almost equal for the three gases. In 2009, the most important acidification factor in Denmark is ammonia nitrogen and the relative contributions for SO2, NOX and NH3 were 6 %, 36 % and 58 %, respectively. However, with regard to long-range transport of air pollution, SO2 and NOX are still the most important pollutants.
The main part of the SO2 emission originates from combustion of fossil fuels, i.e. mainly coal and oil, in public power and district heating plants. From 1980 to 2009, the total emission decreased by 97 %. The large reduction is mainly due to installation of desulphurisation plant and use of fuels with lower content of sulphur in public power and district heating plants. Despite the large reduction of the SO2 emissions, these plants make up 33 % of the total emission. Also emissions from industrial combustion plants, non-industrial combustion plants and other mobile sources are important. National sea traffic (navigation and fishing) contributes with about 13 % of the total SO2 emission in 2009. This is due to the use of residual oil with high sulphur content.
The largest sources of emissions of NOX are road transport followed by other mobile sources and combustion in energy industries (mainly public power and district heating plants). The transport sector is the sector contributing the most to the emission of NOX and, in 2009, 45 % of the Danish emissions of NOX stems from road transport, national navigation, railways and civil aviation. Also emissions from national fishing and off-road vehicles contribute significantly to the NOX emission. For non-industrial combustion plants, the main sources are combustion of gas oil, natural gas and wood in residential plants. The emissions from energy industries have decreased by 77 % from 1985 to 2009. In the same period, the total emission decreased by 56 %. The reduction is due to the increasing use of catalyst cars and installation of low-NOX burners and denitrifying units in power plants and district heating plants.
Almost all atmospheric emissions of NH3 result from agricultural activities. Only a minor fraction originates from road transport (2 %). This fraction is, however, increasing due to growing use of catalyst cars. The major part of the emission from agriculture stems from livestock manure (83 %) and the largest losses of ammonia occur during the handling of the manure in stables and in field application. Other contributions come from use of mineral fertilisers (6 %), N-excretion on pasture range and paddock (3 %), sewage sludge used as fertiliser, crops and ammonia used for straw treatment (7 %) and field burning (less than 1 %). The total ammonia emission decreased by 36 % from 1985 to 2009. This is due to the active national environmental policy efforts over the past twenty years.
The emissions of NMVOC originate from many different sources and can be divided into two main groups: incomplete combustion and evaporation. Road vehicles and other mobile sources such as national navigation vessels and off-road machinery are the main sources of NMVOC emissions from incomplete combustion processes. Road transportation vehicles are still the main contributors, even though the emissions have declined since the introduction of catalyst cars in 1990. The evaporative emissions mainly originate from the use of solvents and the extraction, handling and storage of oil and natural gas. The emissions from the energy industries have increased during the nineties due to the increasing use of stationary gas engines, which have much higher emissions of NMVOC than conventional boilers. The total anthropogenic emissions have decreased by 50 % from 1985 to 2009, largely due to the increased use of catalyst cars and reduced emissions from use of solvents.
Other mobile sources and non-industrial combustion plants contribute significantly to the total emission of this pollutant. Transport is the second largest contributor to the total CO emission. In 1990 a law forbidding the burning of agricultural crop residues in the fields was implemented, which caused a significant reduction in CO emission. The emission decreased further by 40 % from 1990 to 2009, largely because of decreasing emissions from road transportation.
The particulate matter (PM) emission inventory has been reported for the years 2000-2009. The inventory includes the total emission of particles TSP (Total Suspended Particles), emission of particles smaller than 10 µm (PM10) and emission of particles smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5).
The largest PM2.5 emission sources are residential plants (71 %), road traffic (12 %) and other mobile sources (10 %). For the latter, the most important sources are off-road vehicles and machinery in the industrial sector and in the agricultural/forestry sector (28 % and 40 %, respectively). For the road transport sector, exhaust emissions account for the major part (64 %) of the emissions. The PM2.5 emission increased by 35 % from 2000 to 2009 due to an increasing wood consumption in the residential sector.
The largest TSP emission sources are the residential sector and the agricultural sector. The TSP emissions from transport are also important and include both exhaust emissions and the non-exhaust emissions from brake and tyre wear and road abrasion. The non-exhaust emissions account for 62 % of the TSP emission from road transport.
In general, the most important sources of heavy metal emissions are combustion of fossil fuels and waste. The heavy metal emissions have decreased substantially in recent years, except for Cu. The reductions span from 30 % to 92 % for Zn and Pb, respectively. The reason for the reduced emissions is mainly increased use of gas cleaning devices at power and district heating plants (including waste incineration plants). The large reduction in the Pb emission is due to a gradual shift towards unleaded gasoline, the latter being essential for catalyst cars. The major source of Cu is automobile tyre and break wear (93 % in 2009) and the increase from 1990 to 2009 is caused by increasing mileage.
The main sources of emissions of Cd to air are combustion in energy industries (mainly combustion of wood, wood waste and municipal waste) and manufacturing industries (mainly combustion of residual oil). In the transport sector emissions from passenger cars is the main source contributing with 55 % of the sectoral emission in 2009. The emission from non-industrial combustion is dominated by wood combustion in residential plants which accounts for 76 % of the sectoral emission in 2009. Emissions from combustion in residential plants have increased by 99 % since 1990. The decreasing emission from energy industries are related to the decreasing combustion of coal.
The largest sources of Hg emissions to air are waste incineration and coal combustion in energy industries. Due to improved flue gas cleaning and decreasing coal combustion the emissions from Energy industries decreased by 75 % from 1990-2000. Non-industrial combustion is dominated by wood combustion in residential plants while emissions from the waste sector mainly stems from cremation. The variations in emissions from industrial processes are caused by a shut down in 2002 followed by re-opening and a second shut in 2005 down of the electro-steelwork.
The main Pb emission sources are combustion in residential plants and energy industries and transport. In earlier years combustion of leaded gasoline was the major contributor to Pb emissions to air but the shift toward use of unleaded gasoline for transport have decreased the Pb emission from transport by 93 %. In the non-industrial combustion sector the dominant source is wood combustion in residential plants. The decrease in the Pb emission from non-industrial combustion from 1990 to 2009 at 16 % is due to the shift towards unleaded gasoline, as this sector includes other mobile sources in household, gardening, agriculture, forestry, fishing and military. The decreasing emission from Energy industries (96 % from 1990 to 2009) is caused by the deceasing coal combustion.
The emission inventory for PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) includes four PAHs: benzo(a)-pyrene, benzo(b)-fluoranthene, benzo(k)-fluoranthene and indeno-(1,2,3-cd)pyrene. Benzo(b)fluoranthene and Benzo(a)pyrene contribute the major PAH emission by 32 % and 30 %, respectively. The most important source of PAH emissions is combustion of wood in the residential sector making up 84 % of the total emission in 2009. The increasing emission trend is due to increasing combustion of wood in the residential sector. The PAH emission from combustion in residential plants has increased by 15 % from 1990 to 2009.
The major part of the dioxin emission owe to wood combustion in the residential sector, mainly in wood stoves and ovens without flue gas cleaning. Wood combustion in residential plants accounts for 53 % of the national dioxin emission in 2009. The contribution to the total dioxin emission from the waste sector (36 % in 2009) stems from accidental fires, especially building fires. The emission of dioxins from energy industries owe mainly to the combustion of biomass as wood, wood waste and to a less extend agricultural waste.
Stationary combustion accounts for 98 % of the estimated national HCB emission in 2009. This is mainly due to combustion of municipal solid waste in heating and power plants. The HCB emission from stationary plants has decreased 83 % since 1990 mainly due to improved flue gas cleaning in MSW incineration plants. Wood combustion in households is an important source, too, and has increased by 264 % since 1990 due to increasing wood consumption.
In general, considerable work is being carried out to improve the inventories. Investigations and research carried out in Denmark and abroad produce new results and findings which are given consideration and, to the extent which is possible, are included as the basis for emission estimates and as data in the inventory databases. Furthermore, the updates of the EMEP/CORINAIR guidebook (Now the EMEP/EEA Guidebook), and the work of the Task Force on Emission Inventories and its expert panels are followed closely in order to be able to incorporate the best scientific information as the basis for the inventories.
The implementation of new results in inventories is made in a way so that improvements, as far as possible, better reflect Danish conditions and circumstances. This is in accordance with good practice. Furthermore, efforts are made to involve as many experts as possible in the reasoning, justification and feasibility of implementation of improvements.
In improving the inventories, care is taken to consider implementation of improvements for the whole time-series of inventories to make it consistent. Such efforts lead to recalculation of previously submitted inventories. This submission includes recalculated inventories for the whole time-series. The reasoning for the recalculations performed is to be found in the sectoral chapters of this report. The text below focuses on recalculations, in general, and further serves as an overview and summary of the relevant text in the sectoral chapters. For sector specific planned improvements please also refer to the relevant sectoral chapters.
Improvements and updates of the Danish energy statistics are made regularly by the producer of the statistics, the Danish Energy Agency (DEA). In close cooperation with the DEA, these improvements and updates are reflected in the emission inventory for the energy sector. The Danish energy statistics have, for the most part, been aggregated to the SNAP categorisation. This, however, does not include energy statistics for fuel consumption data for specific industries.
The inventories are still being improved through work to increase the number of large point sources, e.g. power plants, included in the databases as individual point sources. Such an inclusion makes it possible to use plant-specific data for emissions etc. available, e.g. in annual environmental reports from the plants in question.
Improvements and recalculations since the 2010 emission inventory submission include:
The total mileage per vehicle category from 2005-2008 have been updated based on new data prepared by DTU Transport. More accurate fleet and mileage figures are provided by the latter institution, split into the different vehicle layers of the emission model. An important change is the categorisation of fleet data for heavy duty trucks and buses into the numerous weight classes covered by the COPERT IV model.
Fuel consumption by vessels sailing between Denmark and the North Sea off shore installations has been added to this category. Previously this fuel consumption was reported under international sea transport.
Due to the changes made in national sea transport, and the fuel transferral between national sea transport and fisheries made as an integral part of the Danish inventories, significant fuel consumption and emission changes have been made for the fishery sector accordingly, for 2001 onwards.
The stock of harvesters have been updated for the years 2001-2008, based on discussions with the Danish Knowledge Centre for Agriculture. For gasoline fuelled ATV’s the stock has been updated for 2007 and 2008.
Emission factors derived from the new road transport simulations have caused some emission changes from 1985-2008.
A split in activity codes has been made. In this way the majority of the fuel consumption and emissions previously reported under residential (SNAP code 0809; NFR code 1A4b) are now reported under commercial/institutional (SNAP code 0811; NFR code 1A4a ii).
No changes have been made in the estimated fuel consumption and emissions for Residential and Commercial/institutional as a sum.
A split in activity codes has been made. The majority of the fuel consumption and emissions previously reported under residential (SNAP code 0809; NFR code 1A4b) are now reported under commercial/institutional (SNAP code 0811; NFR code 1A4a ii).
No changes have been made in the estimated fuel consumption and emissions for Residential and Commercial/institutional as a sum.
Industrial non road machinery
The annual working hours for fork lifts in 2008 have been adjusted with a factor of 0.95 due to the decrease in activities caused by the global financial crisis. The total fuel consumption and emission changes in 2008 for industrial non road machinery are approximately -1 %.
Very small emission changes between -2 % and 1 % occur for the years 2001-2008, due to inclusion of new aircraft types assigned to the representative aircraft types.
The amounts of gasoline sales used for calculation of fugitive emissions from service stations (SNAP 050503) have been updated according to the Energy Statistics for 2009 1990-2008. The NMVOC emission in 2008 has thereby increased by 6 Mg corresponding to 0.5 %.
Fugitive emissions from extraction are calculated from the standard formula in the EMEP/EEA Guidebook based on the number of platforms. In 2009 the number of platforms has been corrected for 2007 and 2008. The NMVOC emission in 2008 has decreased by 20 Mg according to this correction corresponding to 1 %.
Distribution amounts have been updated for one of three natural gas distribution companies for the years 2006-2008 due to new data availability. Due to this the NMVOC emission has decreased by 4 Mg in 2008 corresponding to 10 %.
The NMVOC emission in 2008 from flaring in the gas treatment plant has been updated for 2008 according to the environmental report leading to an increase of 2 Mg NMVOC. The increase corresponds to 12 % of the NMVOC emission from flaring in oil and gas extraction including offshore flaring.
Recalculations have been done as a consequence of implementation of NFR 2009. Implementation of a more clear and logic distinction between energy and process related emissions are ongoing.
Improvement of emission factors within the sub-sector Other production (food and beverage) is ongoing. So far the emission factors for breweries and bakeries have been revised on order to reflect European conditions. The new emission factors are based on the EMEP/EEA guidebook.
Improvements and additions are continuously being implemented due to the comprehensiveness and complexity of the use and application of solvents in industries and households. The main improvements in the 2011 reporting include the following:
Compared with the previous NH3 and PM emissions inventory (submission 2010), some changes and updates have been made. These changes cause an increase in the NH3 emission (1985 – 2008) and a decrease in the PM emission (2000 – 2008).
The main reason for the increase in NH3 emission is due to an error in the calculations of NH3 from sows 1985-2008 and this have led to an increase in the emission from animal manure of 6-11% in the period 1985-2008.
The PM emission mainly decreases because of changes in the calculation of the number of produced swine and poultry and thereby changes in production cycles. For the calculations of the number of produced fattening pigs and weaners slaughter data has been updated. Also the calculation of the number of produced laying hens has been changed, so now the number is based on the amount of eggs produced.
The calculation of emissions from accidental fires of both buildings and vehicles has been added the additional data year of 2009. This extra detailed dataset has influenced the activity data for building and vehicle fires for the years 1990-2005.
The activity data for accidental vehicle fires has. This increase is caused by a change in data delivery of the population of the different vehicle types.
