Methane emissions from oil and gas transport facilities – exploring innovative ways to mitigate environmental consequences

Anifowose, Babatunde; Odubela, Modupe T.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.066

Cited by 25 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Although fugitive CH 4 emissions from NG are a global phenomenon (Saunois et al 2016;Schwietzke et al 2016), most of the published measurement studies specific to the NG industry took place in the United States. Nevertheless, country-specific analyses and measurements in other world regions have highlighted the need for a better understanding of NGrelated CH 4 emissions outside the United States (Anifowose and Odubela 2015;Papailias and Mavroidis 2018), and some more detailed measurement results have been published recently (Johnson et al 2017;Yacovitch et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerially guided leak detection and repair: A pilot field study for evaluating the potential of methane emission detection and cost-effectiveness

Schwietzke

Harrison²,

Lauderdale³

et al. 2018

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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Novel aerial methane (CH) detection technologies were used in this study to identify anomalously high-emitting oil and gas (O&G) facilities and to guide ground-based "leak detection and repair" (LDAR) teams. This approach has the potential to enable a rapid and effective inspection of O&G facilities under voluntary or regulatory LDAR programs to identify and mitigate anomalously large CH emissions from a disproportionately small number of facilities. This is the first study of which the authors are aware to deploy, evaluate, and compare the CH detection volumes and cost-effectiveness of aerially guided and purely ground-based LDAR techniques. Two aerial methods, the Kairos Aerospace infrared CH column imaging and the Scientific Aviation in situ aircraft CH mole fraction measurements, were tested during a 2-week period in the Fayetteville Shale region contemporaneously with conventional ground-based LDAR. We show that aerially guided LDAR can be at least as cost-effective as ground-based LDAR, but several variable parameters were identified that strongly affect cost-effectiveness and which require field research and improvements beyond this pilot study. These parameters include (i) CH minimum dectectable limit of aerial technologies, (ii) emission rate size distributions of sources, (iii) remote distinction of fixable versus nonfixable CH sources ("leaks" vs. CH emissions occurring by design), and (iv) the fraction of fixable sources to total CH emissions. Suggestions for future study design are provided. Implications: Mitigation of methane leaks from existing oil and gas operations currently relies on on-site inspections of all applicable facilities at a prescribed frequency. This approach is labor- and cost-intensive, especially because a majority of oil and gas-related methane emissions originate from a disproportionately small number of facilities and components. We show for the first time in real-world conditions how aerial methane measurements can identify anomalously high-emitting facilities to enable a rapid, focused, and directed ground inspection of these facilities. The aerially guided approach can be more cost-effective than current practices, especially when implementing the aircraft deployment improvements discussed here.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerially guided leak detection and repair: A pilot field study for evaluating the potential of methane emission detection and cost-effectiveness

Schwietzke

Harrison²,

Lauderdale³

et al. 2018

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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“…The flameless combustion is ideal for highly diluted air/fuel streams, as the production of NO x is inhibited by the relatively low reaction temperature [2]. Typical processes involving combustion of CH 4 in lean conditions are the after-treatment of unconverted CH 4 in compressed natural gas-fed vehicle exhausts (ranging from 0.4 to 1 vol%) [3,4] or the treatment of fugitive CH 4 from leaks in coal mines [5,6], from gas transportation facilities such as pipelines and compressor stations [7,8], from upstream oil and gas production facilities [9], and from other anthropogenic sources (ranging from 0.5 to 4 vol%) [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of the Preparation Method of Pd-Doped Cobalt Spinel on the Catalytic Activity in Methane Oxidation Under Lean Fuel Conditions

et al. 2016

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In this work a series of cobalt spinel catalysts was synthesized by different methods and doped with 1 wt% of palladium via incipient wetness impregnation or solution combustion synthesis (SCS). Both undoped and Pd-doped spinels were characterized from the structural and surface point of view (XRD, XRF, lRS, BET, FESEM) and tested toward the oxidation of methane in lean conditions, in gas mixtures containing from 0.5 to 2 vol% of CH 4 . These methane concentrations are typical of processes involving combustion of CH 4 in lean conditions as the after-treatment of unconverted CH 4 in compressed natural gas-fed vehicle exhausts, or the treatment of fugitive CH 4 from leaks in coal mines. The temperature window for the catalytic activity of the undoped Co 3 O 4 materials spread from 350 to 600°C. The preparation method affected the catalytic activity of undoped Co 3 O 4 , with the best catalytic activity related to the spinel prepared by SCS employing urea. The addition of 1 wt% of Pd lowered the temperature window for the catalytic activity to the range of 250-500°C, with insignificant differences for the various preparation methods. The beneficial effect of Pd-doping was assigned to the enhancement of the reduction of cobalt in the oxide structure.

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“…In addition, recent studies [2] have suggested that the tropical regions hold some unexpectedly high methane concentration and that the recent changes in the global methane burden are poorly understood. To address this research gap, efforts must be made to quantify methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructures in tropical regions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the field trial, the wavelength is not scanned but tuned in and out of the absorption band of the methane. Taken in account that, for a mixture of methane and air, a spectral broadening occurs [2], the LD is tuned in the center of the absorption spectrum at 1645.55 nm to obtain attenuation due to the methane and the LD is tuned to 1645.70 nm that is out of the absorption of methane in order to obtain a reference value. The tuning is accomplished by changing the current of the thermoelectric cooler.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Environmental Influences on a Multi-Point Optical Fiber Methane Leak Monitoring System

et al. 2019

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A novel system to monitor methane fugitive emissions was developed using passive optical sensors to attend to the natural gas production and transportation industry. The system is based on optical time domain reflectometry and direct optical absorption spectroscopy. The system was tested in a gas compressor station for four months. The system was capable to measure methane concentration at two points showing its correlation with meteorological data, specially wind velocity and local temperature. Methane concentrations varied from 2.5% to 15% in the first monitored point by sensor 1, and from 5% to 30%, in the second point with sensor 2. Both sensors exhibited a moderate negative correlation with wind velocity with a mean Pearson coefficient of −0.61, despite the external cap designed to avoid the influence of wind. Sensor 2 had a modification to its external package that reduced this mean correlation coefficient to −0.30, considered to be weak to negligible. Regarding temperature, a moderate mean correlation of −0.59 was verified for sensor 1 and zero mean correlation was found for sensor 2. Based on these results the system was proven to be robust for installation in gas transportation or processing facilities.Thus, the management of atmospheric emissions and the improvement of the operational safety of gas transport infrastructures constitute an important area of research and development.Many optical fiber techniques have been reported to detect gases, including the development of micro and nano-engineered optical fibers, such as hollow-core fibers, suspended-core fibers, and tapered optical micro/nano fibers [3,4].Among the possible technologies to be employed in optical gas detection systems, the use of long period grating (LPG) coated with special material have been proposed and tested. In [5], an LPG coated with atactic polystyrene was developed and tested in a railway environment to enable the detection of liquefied petroleum gas, specifically butane gas-the main component of liquefied petroleum gas. In [6], a long-period fiber grating is proposed as a methane sensor by the deposition of high refractive index polycarbonate/cryptophane A overlay. The sensor presented a sensitivity of ∼2.5 nm.% −1 and detection limit of 0.2%. Although the measurement of gas absorption with LPG technology depends on the interaction of a specific coating, and not from the direct optical interaction itself, this technology is interesting as it enables multiplexing and the use of different coatings that could permit the detection of many substances.Other studies were carried out regarding the multiplexing capability of the gas sensor systems. In [7,8], the authors reported multiplexed multi-point gas detection where hundreds of sensors can be accessed using spatial or time division multiplexing techniques. This technique requires the use of optical delay lines and optical couplers, increasing the complexity of the optical network. One particular proposed system to monitor methane leakage with optical fiber technology is commerci...

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Methane emissions from oil and gas transport facilities – exploring innovative ways to mitigate environmental consequences

Cited by 25 publications

References 47 publications

Aerially guided leak detection and repair: A pilot field study for evaluating the potential of methane emission detection and cost-effectiveness

Aerially guided leak detection and repair: A pilot field study for evaluating the potential of methane emission detection and cost-effectiveness

The Effect of the Preparation Method of Pd-Doped Cobalt Spinel on the Catalytic Activity in Methane Oxidation Under Lean Fuel Conditions

Evaluation of Environmental Influences on a Multi-Point Optical Fiber Methane Leak Monitoring System

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