Published on November 2nd, 2021 📆 | 5144 Views ⚑
0Stepping up the technology to find methane leaks
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed new regulations Tuesday on methane emissions from existing oil and natural gas facilities. The agency is calling for companies to monitor their infrastructure and find and fix leaks of the potent greenhouse gas.
But how exactly will they do that?
Itâs not easy to find leaking methane, according to University of Colorado professor Greg Rieker; after all, itâs colorless and odorless. âItâs not like when itâs in your house, theyâve added an odor so that you can smell it if itâs leaking,â Rieker said.
For the last 10 years, people have used an infrared camera to find leaks, Rieker said. On the black-and-white monitor, the gas shows up as a ghostly plume.
âSo it almost looks like shimmering on the camera,â he said. âBut whatâs important is the camera itself is, you know, about $100,000. And then you need a person thatâs trained to interpret the images.â
These days thereâs new methane-tracking technology. Rieker himself has started a company that uses a laser beamed from a tower to comb the air at oil and gas facilities for methane.
âIt automatically just moves from facility to facility and checks over and over and over again all day and all night,â he said.
The EPA encourages oil and gas companies to use this kind of new tech, said professor Arvind Ravikumar with the University of Texas at Austin.
âFrom drones to airplanes to satellites that detect methane emissions and that provide various advantages,â Ravikumar said.
The lasers, for example, would work well surveying flat land, Ravikumar said, whereas drones might be better at navigating forests.
âThe new EPA rule gives operators the flexibility [to] choose the most cost-effective option for their specific operation,â he said.
Plus, Ravikumar said the EPA can use the same technology for enforcement.
Gloss