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Update on Emerging Sensor Technology and Analytics (invited webinar contribution)
Citation:
Thoma, E., H. Lane, AND B. Kelly. Update on Emerging Sensor Technology and Analytics (invited webinar contribution). API Workshop on Use of Sensors/Software for Supplemental Fenceline Monitoring Applications, Houston, TX, August 27 - 28, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Many traditional point and mobile sources of air pollution have a known emission origin (e.g. stack, vent, or tailpipe) with predictable temporal profiles. These sources typically benefit from accurate source emissions test data and engineering models (e.g. fuel-based emission factors), leading to well-developed inventories. However, some types of stationary air pollution sources have much higher uncertainty in both emissions and impacts because they are difficult to measure and model and can exhibit significant stochastic behavior. Refineries, chemical plants, oil and gas production sites, waste facilities, and other industrial/commercial operations can emit air pollutants from complex sources such as fugitive equipment leaks, waste ponds and sewers, unconfined operations, process startups/malfunctions, and improperly controlled systems. Unlike traditional sources, this category of emissions can be spatially distributed and temporally variable or randomly occurring, with a source’s location or even its existence sometimes unknown. In many cases, emissions from these sources can be profoundly affected by atmospheric conditions, creating complicated near-source dynamics. A key to achieving better understanding and management of these sources lies in the development and application of new measurement and near-source modeling approaches that can help identify and characterize emissions, advance knowledge of impacts, and enable efficacious mitigation strategies. These topics are explored under EPA’s Next Generation Emissions Measurement (NGEM) research conducted under ORD’s Air and Energy (AE) Program. As described in the below abstract, this following product advances the NGEM research topic.
Description:
This presentation titled “Update on Emerging Sensor Technology and Analytics” is an invited webinar contribution to the American Petroleum Institute’s Workshop on Use of Sensors/Software for Supplemental Fenceline Monitoring Applications, to be held on August 28, 2019 in Houston, TX. The presentation discusses aspects of fenceline-type measurements with emerging sensor technologies and source location models on various spatial scales. The presentation includes examples of next generation emission measurement (NGEM) deployments around chemical facilities in EPA’s Rubbertown project in Louisville, KY and in South Philadelphia, PA near a refinery complex. Progress under a cooperative research and development agreement with Flint Hills Resources (a refinery operator) and Molex (an NGEM technology provider) to create a next-generation in-plant leak detection sensor network is also briefly described.