Home is Where the Pipeline Ends: Characterization of Volatile Organic Compounds Present in Natural Gas at the Point of the Residential End User

Natural gas delivered to homes contains trace amounts of nonmethane gases that can impact air quality and human health at any point where natural gas is leaked. The presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in unprocessed natural gas is well documented; however, the degree to which VOCs are present in natural gas at the point of end use is largely uncharacterized. We collected 234 whole natural gas samples across 69 unique residential locations across the Greater Boston metropolitan area, Massachusetts.