Abstract Title: | Open-Path Mid-Infrared Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Gases Using a Broadband Optical Parametric Oscillator |
Abstract Type: | Poster |
Session Choice: | Emerging technologies |
Seminar Time: | Thursday : Room 5 - 14.00 - 14.30 |
Presenter Name: | Mr Derryck T. Reid |
Company/Organisation: | Heriot-Watt University |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Abstract Information :
Fugitive hydrocarbon emissions cost the energy sector $5B per year, account for 12% of greenhouse gas emissions
and jeopardize safety and public health. Current gas monitoring methods lack the ability to take measurements in
moderate winds, at varying heights and to provide simultaneous measurements of a diverse range of hydrocarbon
species. The most advanced technique for remote emission measurements is differential absorption lidar (DIAL), in
which intense IR pulses are fired into the atmosphere and returned to a ground-based detector by weak scattering from
airborne particles. DIAL has many limitations due to the use of narrow-line (1 cm-1) dye-laser technology which
restricts it to measuring only one chemical at a time, and scanning for multiple compounds that absorb at different
wavelengths is time consuming. Furthermore, DIAL is a complex system and hard to maintain because it uses dye
laser technology; it is also large and inefficient. By contrast, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, already
a gold standard for laboratory chemical identification, is naturally broadband, offering far wider species coverage to
DIAL, but the beam quality of the thermal sources in lab instruments is inadequate for free-space remote spectroscopy.
Laser-based active FTIR spectroscopy therefore presents immediate opportunities for simultaneous and quantitative
hydrocarbon emissions monitoring in and around petrochemical sites, at landfill sites and in agricultural contexts.
Critically, the ability to measure methane and ethane simultaneously makes it possible to separate methane
contributions from oil and gas sources-which are accompanied by a weaker correlated ethane emission-from
biogenic sources (cattle, landfill, compost) which produce only methane.
Here we present an eye-safe active FTIR spectroscopy system based on a broadband ultrafast optical parametric
oscillator (OPO) operating in the 3.1–3.5-µm wavelength range (where common hydrocarbons display absorption
peaks) and capable of acquiring gas absorption spectra from a simple target at ranges exceeding 30 metres. We
demonstrate that simultaneous quantitative measurement of atmospheric background levels of water and methane is
readily achieved by this system, even in the presence of strong absorption from a control cell of 1.5% ethane gas.