TECHNOLOGY AT CURRENT SURVEILLANCE INC.
With the recent government interest in reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas, and petrochemical industries, Remote Detection technology is now being recommended as the most effective technology choice for detecting fugitive emissions. Visual Inspections using High Definition Optical Zoom camera’s can help identify critical deficiencies of elevated structures such as Flare Stacks, Towers, and Smoke Stacks without shutting down operations, reducing remediation downtime during scheduled repairs.
METHANE DETECTION
CSI now offers Methane Detection on pipelines and facilities measured in either ppm/m, percentage/m or percentage of LEL with a full video and accurate geo-referencing. This is a very efficient way to inspect dangerous, difficult to access areas. Utilizing Laser Spectroscopy, CSI can now detect methane gas from the air that is emitting from the ground.
Laser Spectroscopy in Detection: A specific light wave is emitted from the detector that is absorbed by the specific gas being detected, in our case, methane gas, the returning light to the detector is then measured and a concentration of gas detected is determined. Post Flight Analysis helps eliminate erroneous indications. With the location of the detector recorded simultaneously, the gas emission can be located within a very specific area.
We have been able to integrate systems that assist in automated or semi-automated flight plans including altitude and paths of the aircraft to fly. This provides a more consistent scan and removes some aspects of human error that may arise while flying unfamiliar areas. The pilot does, however stay in full control of the aircraft should the need to intervene become apparent. The aerial view of the area being inspected is also, in many cases, an advantage to see encroaching or potential threats to the facility’s integrity, as well as being able to identify deficiencies. Some examples would be missing signage, exposed pipe at a water crossing, an eroded drainage, soil sloughing or stressed vegetation.