In a new appearing in the prestigious journal Remote Sensing of Environment, the Energy & Emissions Research Lab (EERL) has quantitatively and transparently tested a new airborne LiDAR technology developed by Bridger Photonics Inc., which has the potential to transform how oil and gas sector methane sources are detected, quantified, and mitigated.�� Airborne measurements using Bridger’s Gas Mapping LiDAR™ (GML) technology were performed at active oil and gas facilities in Northern British Columbia, Canada, while a ground team moved beneath the plane deploying and redeploying wind sensors at a subset of sites as part of evaluating measurement uncertainties due to uncertain wind data.�� However, unbeknownst to Bridger, the EERL ground crew was also able to perform controlled methane releases at several sites, providing a true, blinded assessment of the sensitivity of the Bridger technology and its ability to find sources without knowing where to look or even that an evaluation was underway.�� Overall the EERL team was able to catch up with the plane at 48 unique sites completing 65 wind measurements (some sites were visited again by the aircraft on subsequent days) as well as 29 controlled methane releases at 22 distinct sites during the 5-day aerial survey.

These data give unique insight into the current real-world performance of the Bridger technology and provide invaluable data for understanding the potential utility of this or similar airborne measurement technology in meeting regulatory requirements and in interpreting field measurement data to develop better inventories and drive mitigation of emissions.

Results were used to derive a detection sensitivity limit as a function of wind speed and demonstrate that Bridger’s GML technology it is capable of detecting, locating, and quantifying individual sources at or below the magnitudes of recent regulated venting limits. ��Most importantly, this publication lays the groundwork for upcoming analyses by EERL using airborne survey data to help re-derive methane inventories for oil and gas activity in British Columbia and beyond.

Publication

M.R. Johnson, D.R. Tyner, A.J. Szekeres (2021), Blinded evaluation of airborne methane source detection using Bridger Photonics LiDAR, Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume 259, 112418. (doi: )

��

This represents a significant milestone accomplishment as part of FlareNet’s overall research objectives to develop predictive models for flare emissions that can be used to improve emissions inventories, standards, and regulations, while supporting mitigation.�� The importance of this work was recognized by industry and government representatives at the recent PTAC Methane Emissions Reduction Forum, held on Nov 4-5, 2020, where Parvin and recent Ph.D. graduate Bradley Conrad teamed up to win first place in the student research poster competition with a contribution entitled, “Predicting Black Carbon Emissions from Unassisted Vertical Stack Flares”.���� All of EERL’s and FlareNet’s research posters for the conference can be found .�� The entire FlareNet team and the Energy Emissions Research (EERL) at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University are proud to congratulate Parvin on her research success!

Theme 5 of the FlareNet Network aims to develop novel technology for field measurements and apply these to conduct quantitative in situ field measurements of flare black carbon (BC) emissions rates as a function of flare gas flow rates and composition.�� Until recently, there were no viable approaches for directly measuring BC emission rates from open flares in situ. This has changed with the emergence of a new measurement technology known as sky-LOSA (Line-Of-Sight Attenuation using sky-light), which enables remote optical measurement of soot concentration and emission rates in flare plumes.

Bradley’s Ph.D. research has:

• Strengthened the sky-LOSA techniques for quantifying black carbon emissions;
• Refined the algorithm of sky-LOSA, which included quantifying beam steering and multiple scattering;
• Quantified variability in mass absorption cross-section (MAC) of emitted black carbon from flames and created a new model to predict its variability;
• Standardized the sky-LOSA data acquisition; and
• Created a new open-source software utility that can guide users of the sky-LOSA in minimizing measurement uncertainty in the field

Bradley has also been the lead author on eight publications during his Ph.D. studies in leading academic journals in addition to numerous conference presentations.�� Links to these articles may be found on the publications section of the EERL website.

The FlareNet Network and the Energy Emissions Research (EERL) at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University congratulates Dr. Conrad on his exceptional research achievements.

The EERL wishes everyone good health during these extraordinary times and we remain optimistic for exciting developments and accelerated progress in the near term.

But there’s room for improvement for both, and a question mark over whether either set of regulations would meet Canada’s methane reduction targets.

to read the full story in CBC News

The NSERC FlareNet Network is accepting applications for a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow to contribute to large-scale wind tunnel experiments to quantify carbon conversion efficiencies and pollutant emissions from gas flares found that are common in the global oil and gas industry.�� This research is a central part of the NSERC FlareNet strategic network (), led out of �Ӱ�ԭ�� University in collaboration with the University of Western Ontario, University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, and University of Waterloo.�� This position will be based at Western University in London, ON but the successful applicant will also work very closely with the team at the Energy & Emissions Research Lab at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University

Research Focus: The postdoctoral researcher will play an essential role in meeting the objectives of on effects of turbulent crosswinds on flare emissions.�� Under this theme, FlareNet is conducting the world’s first systematic experiments to specifically quantify the impacts of wind turbulence scale and intensity on emissions from flares, including those associated with unconventional oil and gas recovery, as well as air- and steam-assisted flares. ��Through the development of quantitative understanding and predictive models for gas and particulate phase emissions that include the effects of a turbulent crosswind, this work will be a central contribution of the NSERC network.

• The position is open January. 6^st, 2019 with funding secured for 18 months appointment June 30^th 2021:�� Click for further details��

EERL is looking to hire two new Post Doctoral Research Fellows

• Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Laser Based Sensor Design
• Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Unmanned Aerial Systems Design

�Ӱ�ԭ�� EERL

Our lab conducts interdisciplinary research within the general areas of fluid mechanics, combustion, thermodynamics, and laser diagnostics with applications focused on pollution quantification and mitigation in the upstream energy industry. We collaborate closely with National Research Council and Natural Resources Canada and draw research support from several diverse sources including the World Bank Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR), Natural Resources Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Environment Canada, Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada (PTAC), and United Nations Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).

Armed with equipment and assisted by Ecuador’s state oil company, Johnson and his team went off in search of the lighters—flares at the end of gas pipelines—to find out what exactly was being burned.

Johnson, who is known for his experimental research methods for measuring emissions from oil and gas production, is the Canada Research Professor in Energy and Combustion Generated Pollutant Emissions. He is also director of the��FlareNet Network—a group of researchers and academics from �Ӱ�ԭ��, four other Canadian universities, the��National Research Council (NRC), and��Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)��who study pollutants from fossil fuel production.

Funded by the��Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)��in 2016, FlareNet is a five-year, $6.9 million research project involving large-scale flaring experiments and field measurements. FlareNet’s goal is to provide measurement tools, field data and scientific backing to support better policy, regulations and engineering solutions to minimize or eliminate gas flaring and reduce the impact on climate change.

Full Story Link��https://newsroom.carleton.ca/story/flaring-in-the-amazon/

The simplest link between the climatic effect of BC and its atmospheric concentration is the mass-normalized absorption cross-section (MAC) of the BC particles. Consequently, BC MAC has been, and remains, a highly active topic of research.�� Perhaps the most well-known and well-cited data is from Bond & Bergstrom (2006) who performed an exhaustive literature review of BC MAC in the literature. They noted that variability in BC MAC tends to be overshadowed by measurement uncertainty, leading them to suggest a single value of BC MAC, despite the multitude of BC sources that exist. Their value of 7.5 m²/g at 550 nm has been cited hundreds of times. In 2016 however, researchers from Prof. Bond’s laboratory measured flare-specific BC MAC values that averaged approximately a factor of two higher than 7.5 m²/g, although uncertainties were large. These measurements raised the question of whether Bond & Bergstrom’s BC MAC should be expected to be representative of gas flaring; especially since gas flares are significantly different from other BC sources in terms of fuel and scale.

Schematic of the �Ӱ�ԭ�� Vertical Flare Facility, where flares of up to three meters in length burning fuels representative of the oil and gas industry are studied.

Recently, at the �Ӱ�ԭ�� Vertical Flare Facility, Ph.D. candidate Bradley Conrad and Prof. Matthew Johnson – with the help of Natural Resources Canada’s Melina Jefferson and Brian Crosland – performed the first controlled experiments of BC MAC from flames representative of gas flares in terms of fuel and aerodynamics. Flares of up to three meters in length were created burning fuels representative of the flared gases in the global oil and gas industry. Parallel measurements of BC light absorption and mass concentration enabled the direct calculation of flare BC MAC with robustly characterized uncertainties.

EERL-measured values of flare BC MAC were found to vary with fuel composition and flow rate and, over the experimental range, were as much as 30% greater than Bond and Bergstrom’s BC MAC value. Importantly, observed variability was found to be predictable via a novel “MAC scaling parameter” that captures flame radiative effects and, thus, the time-temperature history of BC while it is within the flame. The MAC scaling parameter was used to develop a phenomenological model of BC MAC as a function of readily available flare data, which could be of use to the climate modelling community.

Phenomenological model of flare BC MAC as a function of wavelength and MAC scaling parameter. Blue, green, and red data points (with 95% confidence intervals) correspond to measurements at 405, 532, and 870 nm.

The derived BC MAC model also appeared to bridge the gap between the disparate data of Bond & Bergstrom (2006) and their more recent flare-specific data. Encouragingly, the BC MAC model asymptotically approaches a value of 7.25 m²/g at 550 nm at low values of the scaling parameter that represent small-scale flames burning heavy fuels (consistent with Bond & Bergstrom’s source data). At the extreme of large scaling parameters however (large-scale flames burning lighter fuels – i.e., flares), allowing for some extrapolation, the BC MAC model reconciles Bond’s laboratory’s relatively high field measurements of BC MAC, suggesting that their results were simply a consequence of BC MAC from larger-scale flames. If the BC MAC model is indeed representative of gas flaring in the global oil and gas industry, it is possible that flare BC MAC is more than 30-100% larger than the value of Bond and Bergstrom (2006).

These observations have recently been published in and shared with stakeholders from the (who presented these results at in Katowice) and the .

Publication

B.M. Conrad, M.R. Johnson (2019) Mass absorption cross-section of flare-generated black carbon: variability, predictive model, and implications, Carbon, 149: 760-771 (doi: )

Fugitive releases, such as leaking valves or fittings, are important sources of greenhouse gases that can usually be eliminated economically through repair and maintenance.�� However, this is only possible once they are noticed and located, which can be difficult in facilities that may have several miles of pipe and hundreds or thousands of fittings. ��The need for skilled labour and expensive equipment mean leak detection and repair (LDAR) programs can be expensive to implement on a regular basis.�� Fugitive sources can persist for months or longer without being detected.

Source locations predicted with varying levels of wind simplification and error using quickly computed PRT method. Major source locations L1 and L2 found in each case

Continuous and automatic detection and quantification of leaks using a sparse network of methane sensors, potentially requiring no personnel onsite, could vastly reduce this timeframe. The amount of data processing required, however, has been one of the difficulties with such an approach.�� This paper demonstrates how reusable pre-computations on approximate wind fields can be used to reduce processing time by a factor of several hundred, making detection and quantification of unknown leak(s) within a complex facility feasible on a desktop computer.�� For facilities with a fixed sensor network, this raises the possibility of near-continuous identification and quantification of leaks as they arise.