a Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences , University of Colorado , Boulder , CO , USA.
b Global Monitoring Division , Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , Boulder , CO , USA.
J Air Waste Manag Assoc. 2019 Jan;69(1):71-88. doi: 10.1080/10962247.2018.1515123. Epub 2018 Oct 19.
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.
这项研究采用了新型的空中甲烷（CH）检测技术，以识别异常排放的油气（O&G）设施，并指导地面“泄漏检测与修复”（LDAR）团队。这种方法有可能在自愿或监管的 LDAR 计划下，对 O&G 设施进行快速有效的检查，以识别和减轻少数设施异常大量的 CH 排放。这是作者所知的首次部署、评估和比较空中引导和纯粹基于地面的 LDAR 技术的 CH 检测量和成本效益的研究。在费耶特维尔页岩地区进行了为期两周的测试期间，同时使用了两种空中方法，即 Kairos Aerospace 红外 CH 柱成像和 Scientific Aviation 原位飞机 CH 分子分数测量，来测试这两种方法。我们表明，空中引导的 LDAR 至少可以与地面引导的 LDAR 一样具有成本效益，但确定了几个强烈影响成本效益的可变参数，这些参数需要进一步的实地研究和改进。这些参数包括：（i）空中技术的 CH 最小可检测极限；（ii）源的排放率大小分布；（iii）远程区分可修复和不可修复的 CH 源（“泄漏”与设计导致的 CH 排放）；以及（iv）可修复源与总 CH 排放的比例。为未来的研究设计提供了建议。影响：目前，减少现有油气作业中的甲烷泄漏依赖于按照规定频率对所有适用设施进行现场检查。这种方法既耗费人力又耗费成本，尤其是因为大多数与油气相关的甲烷排放来自少数设施和组件。我们首次在实际条件下展示了如何通过空中甲烷测量来识别异常排放的设施，从而能够快速、集中和有针对性地对这些设施进行地面检查。空中引导方法可能比当前实践更具成本效益，特别是在实施本文讨论的飞机部署改进时。
