About Daniel Zavala-Ara

Daniel Zavala-Araiza

Senior Scientist II

Contact

Remote Office

Work

Areas of expertise:

Methane emissions, environmental impacts of energy systems, environmental justice

Daniel Zavala-Araiza is a senior scientist working in the Office of Chief Scientist as part of the EDF team. His current research focuses on providing actionable data that can accelerate the mitigation of methane emissions. He leads a team of scientists around the world focused on improving our understanding of how much and where methane pollution is taking place. He is based in Utrecht, The Netherlands where he is also a visiting researcher at Utrecht University.

Background

Dr. Zavala-Araiza obtained a B.S. in chemical engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, where he carried out research on environmental implications of shale gas production.

He has additional graduate studies around the social implications of science and technology and has worked in Environmental Justice projects in Mexico. He has taught courses on sustainability and environmental science.

Education

Ph.D. – University of Texas at Austin

B.S. – Universidad Iberoamericana (Chemical Engineering)

Publications

Zavala-Araiza, D., Lyon, D.R., Alvarez, R.A., Davis, K.J., Harriss, R., Herndon, S.C., Karion, A., Kort, E.A., Lamb, B.K., Lan, X. and Marchese, A.J., 2015. Reconciling divergent estimates of oil and gas methane emissions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(51), pp.15597-15602.

Zavala-Araiza, D.; Lyon, D.; Alvarez, R. A.; Palacios, V.; Harriss, R.; Lan, X.; Talbot, R.; Hamburg, S. P. (2015) Toward a functional definition of methane super-emitters: Application to natural gas production sites. Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b00133

Lyon, D. R.; Zavala-Araiza, D.; Alvarez, R. A.; Harriss, R.; Palacios, V.; Lan, X.; Talbot, R.; Lavoie, T.; Shepson, P.; Yacovitch, T.I.; et al. (2015). Constructing a spatially resolved methane emission inventory for the Barnett Shale Region. Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI: 10.1021/es506359c.

Zavala-Araiza, D., Allen, D. T., Harrison, M., Fiji, G., Jersey, G., (2015) Allocating Emissions to Natural Gas and Oil Production from Shale Formations. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Accepted.

Allen, D. T.; Pacsi, A. P.; Sullivan, D. W.; Zavala-Araiza, D.; Harrison, M.; Keen, K.; 395 Fraser, M. P.; Hill, A. D.; Sawyer, R. F.; Seinfeld, J. H. (2014) Methane Emissions from Process Equipment at Natural Gas Production Sites in the United States: Pneumatic Controllers. Environmental science & technology, DOI: 10.1021/es5040156

Allen, D. T.; Sullivan, D. W.; Zavala-Araiza, D.; Pacsi, A. P.; Harrison, M.; Keen, K.; 399 Fraser, M. P.; Hill, A. D.; Lamb, B. K.; Sawyer, R. F.; Seinfeld, J. H. (2014) Methane Emissions 400 from Process Equipment at Natural Gas Production Sites in the United States: Liquids Unloadings Environmental science & technology, DOI: 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, 5314−5321.

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.</p