Covering and Flaring Manure Storage Units as a Methane Mitigation Strategy for Small- to Midsize Dairy Operations in the United States
- 1Environmental Research, Dairy Research Institute, Rosemont, Illinois 60018, United States
- 2Biofiltro, Davis, California 95618, United States
- 3Department of Animal Science, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99163, United States
Abstract
Covering manure storages and flaring the captured methane (cap-and-flare) offers a technically feasible mitigation pathway for small- and midsize dairies that has received limited attention relative to anaerobic digestion (AD). While AD systems are more economically feasible for large operations, the dairy segment with fewer than 1,000 cows still produces approximately 34% of U.S. milk and remains largely unaddressed. We estimated technical CH4 mitigation potential under full cap-and-flare adoption using the IPCC Tier 2 model for 8,675 dairy farms across 38 US states. Under 100% adoption, liquid storage CH4 mitigation potential (GWP100 = 27) ranged from 5.53 MMT CO2e yr–1 (central 90% interval: 3.70–6.63) to 10.36 (central 90% interval: 6.93–12.42) depending on the Arrhenius activation energy and reference temperature constants applied, representing 16–30% of the CO2e attributed to dairy manure CH4 in the 2022 EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory. These values represent an upper-bound technical potential rather than a projected deployment level. Average national Levelized Costs of Mitigation (LCOM) ranged from $55 t–1 CO2e (conservative parametrization) to $29 t–1 CO2e (upper-bound parametrization), positioning cap-and-flare as a cost-efficient CH4 mitigation option. Existing USDA-NRCS Conservation Practice Standard 367 provides an available incentive mechanism, although meaningful scale-up will likely require dedicated funding for infrastructure and technical assistance. These results suggest that cap-and-flare could complement AD as a mitigation pathway for U.S. dairy operations where AD is not economically viable.
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BibTeX
@article{afshar2026covering,
title = {{Covering and Flaring Manure Storage Units as a Methane Mitigation Strategy for Small- to Midsize Dairy Operations in the United States}},
author = {Reza Keshavarz Afshar and Jim Wallace and April B. Leytem and Tim Kurt},
journal = {Environmental Science \& Technology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1021/acs.est.6c08139},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6c08139},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Covering and Flaring Manure Storage Units as a Methane Mitigation Strategy for Small- to Midsize Dairy Operations in the United States
AU - Reza Keshavarz Afshar
AU - Jim Wallace
AU - April B. Leytem
AU - Tim Kurt
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
JO - Environmental Science & Technology
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.6c08139
UR - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6c08139
AB - Covering manure storages and flaring the captured methane (cap-and-flare) offers a technically feasible mitigation pathway for small- and midsize dairies that has received limited attention relative to anaerobic digestion (AD). While AD systems are more economically feasible for large operations, the dairy segment with fewer than 1,000 cows still produces approximately 34% of U.S. milk and remains largely unaddressed. We estimated technical CH4 mitigation potential under full cap-and-flare adoption using the IPCC Tier 2 model for 8,675 dairy farms across 38 US states. Under 100% adoption, liquid storage CH4 mitigation potential (GWP100 = 27) ranged from 5.53 MMT CO2e yr–1 (central 90% interval: 3.70–6.63) to 10.36 (central 90% interval: 6.93–12.42) depending on the Arrhenius activation energy and reference temperature constants applied, representing 16–30% of the CO2e attributed to dairy manure CH4 in the 2022 EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory. These values represent an upper-bound technical potential rather than a projected deployment level. Average national Levelized Costs of Mitigation (LCOM) ranged from $55 t–1 CO2e (conservative parametrization) to $29 t–1 CO2e (upper-bound parametrization), positioning cap-and-flare as a cost-efficient CH4 mitigation option. Existing USDA-NRCS Conservation Practice Standard 367 provides an available incentive mechanism, although meaningful scale-up will likely require dedicated funding for infrastructure and technical assistance. These results suggest that cap-and-flare could complement AD as a mitigation pathway for U.S. dairy operations where AD is not economically viable.
SN - 0013-936X
SN - 1520-5851
ER -