The impact of methane slip from vessels on environment

It was presented the ways of methane leakages during transport by sea. Due to greenhouse (GH), effect of carbon dioxide on atmosphere it was mentioned the carbon cycle on the Earth. Carbon dioxide is the main GH gas and it was indicated the change of concentration during last sixty years. It was increased about 30%. The possible methane leakages from vessels may increase the total GH effect due to high Global Warming Potential (GWP) of methane and other hydrocarbons. The carbon dioxide emission from engines is about 30% lower that from liquid marine fuels (diesel oils and heavy fuels). The liquefied natural gas (LNG) or compressed natural gas (CNG) seems to be a good ecological marine fuel. Due to methane leakages estimated on the level of 1-10% from mining to burning in the engines and the GWP on the level about 72-84 the look on methane as ecological fuel may change. It was calculated the equivalent effect (additional effect) of using methane as a marine fuel. Methane leakage on the level of 1-2.5% is equivalent to the same warming effect to the atmosphere as using popular marine diesel oils. Therefore, the leakage of methane during all operations should be as small as possible. In many cases, it is a serious problem for calculating the real leakages so they may be only estimated.