PEFTEC PEFTEC

PEFTEC - Abstract


Abstract Title: GasMap - Mapping underground fugitive methane emissions by photoaccoutic spectroscopy
Abstract Type: Seminar
Session Choice: Environmental Monitoring of Air
Presenter Name: Dr Virgile Rouchon
Company/Organisation: Institut Francais du petrole et des energies nouvelles
Country: France

Abstract Information :

IFP Energies nouvelles, a French public research and innovation institute in the fields of Energy, and AEROVIA, an innovative company dedicated to the development of industrial photoacoustic gas sensors have jointly developed a new system, called GasMap, dedicated to the detection and assignation of minute methane leaks from the underground.

The photoacoustic spectrometer system is integrated within a permanent 4x4 rechargeable hybrid vehicle able to travel with a single charge with zero gas emissions over 50 kilometers.  Data are reported on-the-fly on a map interface as multiple layers superimposed on base maps (imagery, infrastructures, topography, etc…). The GasMap system may work at 1Hz data acquisition frequency (1 data point every second), and is designed for detecting CH4, C2H6 and CO2 at a resolution of 10 ppb in air, together with the carbon isotopic composition of methane, noted as d13CH4, at a resolution down to 1‰ with 2 ppm CH4 in air.

We show how this system may be a powerful tool for detecting fugitive natural gas emissions, by combining high sensitivity, ratios of CH4 to C2H6, and the isotopic composition of methane carbon.