About Daniel Zavala-Ara

Dr. Daniel Zavala-Araiza

Lead Senior Scientist

Contact

Remote Office

Work

Areas of expertise:

Methane emissions, environmental impacts of energy systems, environmental justice

Daniel (he/him) is a senior scientist part of Environmental Defense Fund's Office of Chief Scientist. His current research focuses on providing actionable data that can accelerate the mitigation of methane emissions. He leads research projects around the world, improving the understanding of methane pollution, including with Environmental Defense Fund's MethaneSAT teams and in close partnership with UNEP's International Methane Emissions Observatory.

Background

Daniel is based in Utrecht, The Netherlands where he is also a visiting researcher at Utrecht University. Daniel obtained a B.Sc. in chemical engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, where he carried out research on the environmental implications of shale gas production. Daniel speaks Spanish and English.

Publications

Zhang, Y., Gautam, R., Pandey, S., Omara, M., Maasakkers, J. D., Sadavarte, P., … & Hamburg, S. P. (2020). Quantifying methane emissions from the largest oil-producing basin in the United States from space. Science Advances, 6(17), eaaz5120. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz5120

Alvarez, R. A., Zavala-Araiza, D., Lyon, D. R., Allen, D. T., Barkley, Z. R., Brandt, A. R., … & Hamburg, S. P. (2018). Assessment of methane emissions from the U.S. oil and gas supply chain. Science, 361(6398), 186–188. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar7204

Zavala-Araiza, D., Alvarez, R. A., Lyon, D. R., Allen, D. T., Marchese, A. J., Zimmerle, D. J., & Hamburg, S. P. (2017). Super-emitters in natural gas infrastructure are caused by abnormal process conditions. Nature Communications, 8, 14012. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14012

Zavala-Araiza, D., Lyon, D. R., Alvarez, R. A., Davis, K. J., Harriss, R., Herndon, S. C., … & Hamburg, S. P. (2015). Reconciling divergent estimates of oil and gas methane emissions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(51), 15597–15602. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522126112

Zavala-Araiza, D., Lyon, D., Alvarez, R. A., Palacios, V., Harriss, R., Lan, X., … & Hamburg, S. P. (2015). Toward a functional definition of methane super-emitters: Application to natural gas production sites. Environmental Science & Technology, 49(13), 8167–8174. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b00133

Lyon, D. R., Zavala-Araiza, D., Alvarez, R. A., Harriss, R., Palacios, V., Lan, X., … & Hamburg, S. P. (2015). Constructing a spatially resolved methane emission inventory for the Barnett Shale Region. Environmental Science & Technology, 49(13), 8147–8157. https://doi.org/10.1021/es506359c

Zavala-Araiza, D., Allen, D. T., Harrison, M., George, F. C., & Jersey, G. R. (2015). Allocating methane emissions to natural gas and oil production from shale formations. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 3(3), 492–498. https://doi.org/10.1021/sc500730x

Allen, D. T., Pacsi, A. P., Sullivan, D. W., Zavala-Araiza, D., Harrison, M., Keen, K., … & Seinfeld, J. H. (2015). Methane emissions from process equipment at natural gas production sites in the United States: Pneumatic controllers. Environmental Science & Technology, 49(1), 633–640. https://doi.org/10.1021/es5040156

Allen, D. T., Sullivan, D. W., Zavala-Araiza, D., Pacsi, A. P., Harrison, M., Keen, K., … & Seinfeld, J. H. (2015). Methane emissions from process equipment at natural gas production sites in the United States: Liquids unloadings. Environmental Science & Technology, 49(1), 641–648. https://doi.org/10.1021/es504016r

Zavala-Araiza, D., Sullivan, D. W., & Allen, D. T. (2014). Atmospheric hydrocarbon emissions and concentrations in the Barnett Shale natural gas production region. Environmental Science & Technology, 48(9), 5314–5321. https://doi.org/10.1021/es405770h

Pacsi, A. P., Alhajeri, N. S., Zavala-Araiza, D., Webster, M. D., & Allen, D. T. (2013). Regional air quality impacts of increased natural gas production and use in Texas. Environmental Science & Technology, 47(7), 3521–3527. https://doi.org/10.1021/es3044714

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