Airdar’s Remote Detection

This case study was presented at the 2010 Air and Waste Management Association Annual Conference

As a midstream oil & gas company, Keyera Energy is constantly looking for opportunities to improve their operations and reduce environmental impacts while adding to their bottom-line. In 2005, Keyera Energy had the opportunity to test a promising emissions monitoring technology; this was the first field trial of the Airdar technology.

Airdar pinpointed the locations of 5 emission sources, including 1 off-site source, and quantified their emission rates over time. The most important of these was a massive fugitive emission coming from the compressor building, with an emission rate of 3,967 L/min total hydrocarbons. A third party was hired to investigate the compressor building using handheld detectors, but they were unable to locate the leak.

Airdar staff identified a vent as a potential source, located 4 ft. above the top of the compressor building. This unsuspected source was emitting gas composed 96% of total hydrocarbons, 94% of which was methane. Airdar was also able to demonstrate a 50% reduction of total hydrocarbons being emitted from the facility tanks after the client took action to address their emissions.

Because of the source location capabilities of Airdar, the client was able to find a major leak of valuable natural gas that was an important source of GHG emissions and confirm that their efforts to reduce tank emissions had been successful.