SAGD Facility

Airdar’s Continuous Monitoring

In 2012, this Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage facility was experiencing severe odour problems due to high levels of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Several suspected emission sources were identified, and an on-site investigation revealed that the Hot Lime Softener (HLS) was emitting H2S.

A solution to resolve the odour problems was proposed: burn the steam coming from the HLS. Although it would decrease the amount of H2S being emitted from the HLS, this intervention would have required significant processing to remove the water from the steam and a great deal of piping to tie the vent into the flare, making this a costly solution.

Not wanting to spend valuable resources with no guarantee of successfully resolving the problem, the client turned to Airdar Inc., as a subcontractor to Golder, to help determine the true cause of the odours.

Within a few months of monitoring, Airdar was able to locate and quantify the most important emission sources of hydrogen sulfide and total hydrocarbons (THC) on the site. As expected, the Airdar analysis showed that the HLS was emitting both H2S and THC. However, when the tanks on the tank farm were being vented, the resulting emissions were far greater than the emissions from the HLS. These large emissions from the tank farm were the true cause of the odour problems on the site, meaning that the odour problems would not have been resolved if the client had gone through with the intervention involving the HLS.

Because of the continuous monitoring provided by Airdar, the client was able to resolve the odour problem by structurally reinforcing their tanks to reduce the need for venting. This also led to significant reductions in their GHG emissions.