Field deployment of a portable optical spectrometer for methane fugitive emissions monitoring on oil and gas well pads

Eric J. Zhang, Chu C. Teng, Theodore G. van Kessel, Levente Klein, Ramachandran Muralidhar, Gerard Wysocki, William M.J. Green

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present field deployment results of a portable optical absorption spectrometer for localization and quantification of fugitive methane (CH4) emissions. Our near-infrared sensor targets the 2ν3 R(4) CH4 transition at 6057.1 cm−1 (1651 nm) via line-scanned tunable diode-laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), with Allan deviation analysis yielding a normalized 2.0 ppmv·Hz−1/2 sensitivity (4.5 × 10−6 Hz−1/2 noise-equivalent absorption) over 5 cm open-path length. Controlled CH4 leak experiments are performed at the METEC CSU engineering facility, where concurrent deployment of our TDLAS and a customized volatile organic compound (VOC) sensor demonstrates good linear correlation (R2 = 0.74) over high-flow (>60 SCFH) CH4 releases spanning 4.4 h. In conjunction with simultaneous wind velocity measurements, the leak angle-of-arrival (AOA) is ascertained via correlation of CH4 concentration and wind angle, demonstrating the efficacy of single-sensor line-of-sight (LOS) determination of leak sources. Source magnitude estimation based on a Gaussian plume model is demonstrated, with good correspondence (R2 = 0.74) between calculated and measured release rates.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number2707
JournalSensors (Switzerland)
Volume19
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Information Systems
  • Instrumentation
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Biochemistry

Keywords

  • Absorption spectroscopy
  • Angle-of-arrival
  • Diode laser
  • Fugitive emissions
  • Gaussian plume model
  • Infrared
  • Methane
  • Natural gas
  • Source estimation

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