Natural Gas Fugitive Leak Detection Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: Measurement System Description and Mass Balance Approach

Yang, Sangsik; Talbot, R. W.; Frish, Michael B.; Golston, Levi M.; Aubut, Nicholas F.; Zondlo, M. A.; Gretencord, Christopher; McSpiritt, James

doi:10.3390/atmos9100383

Cited by 59 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…UAV surveys are useful in large‐scale screening of gas infrastructure for major point sources (e.g., over a spread‐out gasfield or landfill site) to find and quantify large leaks quickly (Allen et al, ; Barchyn et al, ; Yang et al, ). Many leaks are episodic “one‐offs”—the result of errors such as faulty or forgotten valves, ill‐fitted connections or equipment failure.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement

Nisbet

Fisher

Lowry

et al. 2020

Reviews of Geophysics

221

131

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The atmospheric methane burden is increasing rapidly, contrary to pathways compatible with the goals of the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris Agreement. Urgent action is required to bring methane back to a pathway more in line with the Paris goals. Emission reduction from “tractable” (easier to mitigate) anthropogenic sources such as the fossil fuel industries and landfills is being much facilitated by technical advances in the past decade, which have radically improved our ability to locate, identify, quantify, and reduce emissions. Measures to reduce emissions from “intractable” (harder to mitigate) anthropogenic sources such as agriculture and biomass burning have received less attention and are also becoming more feasible, including removal from elevated‐methane ambient air near to sources. The wider effort to use microbiological and dietary intervention to reduce emissions from cattle (and humans) is not addressed in detail in this essentially geophysical review. Though they cannot replace the need to reach “net‐zero” emissions of CO2, significant reductions in the methane burden will ease the timescales needed to reach required CO2 reduction targets for any particular future temperature limit. There is no single magic bullet, but implementation of a wide array of mitigation and emission reduction strategies could substantially cut the global methane burden, at a cost that is relatively low compared to the parallel and necessary measures to reduce CO2, and thereby reduce the atmospheric methane burden back toward pathways consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement

Nisbet

Fisher

Lowry

et al. 2020

Reviews of Geophysics

221

131

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Golston et al (2018) sampled at a fixed height above a controlled release, using remote sensing methane measurements in equally sized grid squares, to identify and quantify emissions using mass balance box modelling. Yang et al (2018) flew in circles around the rough location of a controlled release and used remote sensing measurements to identify the source location and quantify emissions, using mass balance box modelling. Nathan et al (2015) flew in concentric circles around a gas compressor station and used in situ ±0.05 ppm precision measurements to derive 22 mass balance box modelling fluxes, where geospatial kriging was used.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unmanned aerial vehicle observations of cold venting from exploratory hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom

Shah

Ricketts

Pitt

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Commun.

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Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys allow for rapid-response near-field sampling, downwind of emission sources, such as gas extraction sites, without the need for site access. UAVs can be used in emission source identification alongside instantaneous flux estimation. A UAV was used to sample downwind of the UK's first and only gas extraction site to use exploratory onshore horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of shale formations, in Little Plumpton, Lancashire. In-situ calibrated UAV methane mole fraction measurements were made from a neighbouring field on five sampling days between October 2018 and February 2019, during fracking, flow-back and flow testing. Methane emissions were identified on one of the five sampling days (14 January 2019), associated with known cold venting, following fluid unloading using a nitrogen lift. A near-field Gaussian plume inversion approach was used to calculate four instantaneous fluxes on this day (from four separate intermittent UAV flight surveys) with lower and upper uncertainty bounds of between 9-80 g s −1 , 23-106 g s −1 , 16-82 g s −1 and 34-156 g s −1 , respectively. The cold venting emissions observed on this single day were at least an order of magnitude higher than UAV methane fluxes calculated for nearby dairy farm buildings, also presented here. Identifying and quantifying these methane emission sources are important to improve the national emissions inventory and to regulate this developing UK industry.

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“…However, as near-field in-situ sampling was used in the Nathan et al [73] study, the use of kriging as a form of interpolation could be subject to error due to effects of near-field turbulence. Yang et al [74] used a downward facing remote sensing instrument attached to a small UAV platform to detect gas leaks, using a new interpretation of mass balance box modelling tailored for remote sensing sampling. Their UAV performed concentric circles around the presumed emission source at a fixed height [74].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yang et al [74] used a downward facing remote sensing instrument attached to a small UAV platform to detect gas leaks, using a new interpretation of mass balance box modelling tailored for remote sensing sampling. Their UAV performed concentric circles around the presumed emission source at a fixed height [74]. Mass balance box modelling can be a highly suitable method for UAV sampling, as shown in a study by Yang et al [74], whose method integrated the statistical average of remote sensing measurements from above an emission plume.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Near-Field Gaussian Plume Inversion Flux Quantification Method, Applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Sampling

et al. 2019

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The accurate quantification of methane emissions from point sources is required to better quantify emissions for sector-specific reporting and inventory validation. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) serves as a platform to sample plumes near to source. This paper describes a near-field Gaussian plume inversion (NGI) flux technique, adapted for downwind sampling of turbulent plumes, by fitting a plume model to measured flux density in three spatial dimensions. The method was refined and tested using sample data acquired from eight UAV flights, which measured a controlled release of methane gas. Sampling was conducted to a maximum height of 31 m (i.e. above the maximum height of the emission plumes). The method applies a flux inversion to plumes sampled near point sources. To test the method, a series of random walk sampling simulations were used to derive an NGI upper uncertainty bound by quantifying systematic flux bias due to a limited spatial sampling extent typical for short-duration small UAV flights (less than 30 min). The development of the NGI method enables its future use to quantify methane emissions for point sources, facilitating future assessments of emissions from specific source-types and source areas. This allows for atmospheric measurement-based fluxes to be derived using downwind UAV sampling for relatively rapid flux analysis, without the need for access to difficult-to-reach areas.

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Natural Gas Fugitive Leak Detection Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: Measurement System Description and Mass Balance Approach

Cited by 59 publications

References 55 publications

Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement

Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement

Unmanned aerial vehicle observations of cold venting from exploratory hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom

A Near-Field Gaussian Plume Inversion Flux Quantification Method, Applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Sampling

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