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OTM 33 Geospatial Measurement of Air Pollution, Remote Emissions Quantification (GMAP-REQ) and OTM33A Geospatial Measurement of Air Pollution-Remote Emissions Quantification-Direct Assessment (GMAP-REQ-DA)
Citation:
Thoma, E. AND B. Squier. OTM 33 Geospatial Measurement of Air Pollution, Remote Emissions Quantification (GMAP-REQ) and OTM33A Geospatial Measurement of Air Pollution-Remote Emissions Quantification-Direct Assessment (GMAP-REQ-DA). US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
Draft OTM 33 and 33A to be eventually posted on OAR webstie (after OAR review, modification, and approval) See description below.
Description:
Background: Next generation air measurement (NGAM) technologies are enabling new regulatory and compliance approaches that will help EPA better understand and meet emerging challenges associated with fugitive and area source emissions from industrial and oil and gas sectors. In collaboration with OAR, OECA, and multiple Regions, ORD’s GMAP program is identifying and developing novel paradigm-shifting mobile source measurement methods.Approach/Results: This research contributes to EPA’s ongoing efforts to better locate and characterize difficult to measure air pollution sources using mobile measurements and sensor networks. Other Test Method (OTM) 33, “Geospatial Measurement of Air Pollution-Remote Emissions Quantification” (GMAP-REQ), describes a subset of GMAP applications that use ground-based vehicles to improve understanding of air pollution sources at local scales. Draft Method 33, is typically based on two primary operational modes, (1) mapping surveys to detect and locate source emissions and (2) source measurement and/or characterization procedures to assess source emission strengths and other aspects of emissions. Also included as part of this product is a GMAP-REQ approach called “direct assessment” (DA), specified as draft OTM 33A. This sub-method 33A (GMAP-REQ-DA) is used for mobile assessment of emissions from near-field, ground-level point sources (e.g. oil and gas) and is designed to be a rapidly executed inspection approach. Draft Method 33A allows detection and assessment of source emissions without use of deployed stationary equipment or site-specific modeling; e.g., computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Significance/Expected use: As the first standardized mobile measurement method, this product represents a milestone in NGAM development that has both near-term and long-term significance. EPA ORD’s use of OTM 33A to improve understanding of oil gas emissions was cited as a noteworthy achievement in a recent U.S. EPA Office of Inspector General report (No. 13-P-0161). OECA NEIC has used their OTM 33A system, developed by ORD, to find actionable petrochemical fenceline emissions in R6 and to investigate benzene emissions from oil and gas fields in WY. EPA Region 5 has used their GMAP system to discover dangerous H2S emissions that formed the basis for an important engenderment finding in Detroit. OTM 33A is being used by several outside groups and variations of GMAP methods are being employed by NOAA and others for important research in the GHG emission space. The OTM 33 family of methods will expand in coming years to include mobile tracer correlation and flux plane approaches to help meet emerging fugitive and area source measurement needs of the Agency. Long-term work is underway to advance mobile sensor technologies to enable automated forms of OTM 33 that could help form the basis for the advanced source inventory and regulatory/compliance approaches of the future. Attachments(1) OTM 33 Draft GMAP-REQ, 51 pages, 9 figures(2) OTM 33A Draft GMAP-REQ-DA, 74 pages, 33 figures(3) OTM 33A Appendix A: Examples of EPA GMAP-REQ-DA Systems, 25 pages, 15 figures (4) OTM 33A Appendix B: Mast System Mechanical Drawings and Wiring Schematics, 34 pages, 33 figures(5) OTM 33A Appendix C: Control Software for EPA GMAP-REQ-DA systems, computer program(6) OTM 33A Appendix D: Software User Interface SOP, 16 pages, 10 figures(7) OTM 33A Appendix E: EPA GMAP-REQ-DA Field Data Acquisition SOP, 8 pages, 1 figure(8) OTM 33A Appendix F1: PSG Data Analysis SOP and Software code, 64 pages, 8 figures(9) OTM 33A Appendix F2: bLs Data Analysis SOP, 8 pages, 0 figures(10-12) OTM 33A Appendix G1, G2, G3: Canister Cleansing and Laboratory Analysis Example SOPs, 9 pages(13,14) OTM 33A Appendix H1, H2: Reproduced Method-related Conference Papers