Article: Albertson, JD; Harvey, T; Foderaro, G; Zhu, PP; Zhou, XC; Ferrari, S; Amin, MS; Modrak, M; Brantley, H; Thoma, ED; (2016) “A Mobile Sensing Approach for Regional Surveillance of Fugitive Methane Emissions in Oil and Gas Production”, Environmental Science & Technology, 50 (5); 2487-2497
Abstract: This paper addresses the need for surveillance of fugitive methane emissions over broad geographical regions. Most existing techniques suffer from being either extensive (but qualitative) or quantitative (but intensive with poor scalability). A total of two novel advancements are made here. First, a recursive Bayesian method is presented for probabilistically characterizing fugitive point-sources from mobile sensor data. This approach is made possible by a new cross-plume integrated dispersion formulation that overcomes much of the need for time-averaging concentration data. The method is tested here against a limited data set of controlled methane release and shown to perform well. We then present an information-theoretic approach to plan the paths of the sensor equipped vehicle, where the path is chosen so as to maximize expected reduction in integrated target source rate uncertainty in the region, subject to given starting and ending positions and prevailing meteorological conditions. The information-driven sensor path planning algorithm is tested and shown to provide robust results across a wide range of conditions. An overall system concept is presented for optionally piggybacking of these techniques onto normal industry maintenance operations using sensor equipped work trucks.
Funding Acknowledgement: NSF IGERT [DGE-1068871]; U.S. EPA ORDs Air, Climate, and Energy (ACE) program
Funding Text: This work was supported by the NSF IGERT through Grant DGE-1068871 and U.S. EPA ORDs Air, Climate, and Energy (ACE) program. The authors thank Bill Squire and Bill Mitchell from EPA for their efforts on this project. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.