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A MULTI-SENSOR APPROACH FOR MONITORING RIVER CHEMICAL TANK BARGE EMISSIONS
Citation:
WILLIAMS, D. J. AND E. Thoma. A MULTI-SENSOR APPROACH FOR MONITORING RIVER CHEMICAL TANK BARGE EMISSIONS. Presented at International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) Defense, Security, and Sensing 2009 Conference, Orlando, FL, April 13 - 17, 2009.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation
Description:
The nation’s waterways are critical avenues for transporting petroleum products and chemicals. These chemicals are often volatile and emissions from the tanker barges carrying these products are a problem. Large population centers exist along the routes of these tank barges, creating the potential for human exposure to toxic compounds. The issue of emissions from tank barges is also a port security problem. The scenario of a large scale release of a hazardous compound, unintentional or otherwise, poses a real threat to the local population. Monitoring for tank barge emissions to locate leaking barges and fix them, as well as determine or verify barge contents, must be cost effective and accurate. The use of field deployable infrared spectrometers, open-path and passive devices, together with specialized thermal imaging cameras, has proven effective for locating leaking barges, determining the chemical(s) being released, and quantifying the emissions, defined as calculating the mass of the release per unit time. FTIR spectrometers were deployed in a radial plume mapping configuration to measure area emissions from the barges. Emissions were also measured at the source of the leak, such as barge hatch covers, using passive FTIR spectroscopy and specialized thermal imaging cameras that observed the plume as moving video. Verification of the remote sensing measurements was accomplished by measuring the leak flow rate using a leaking component encapsulation technique and by chemical analysis of canister samples in the laboratory. This paper will describe the findings of the study and the implications to port security applications.