DS Prince Consulting Ltd.
Prepared for Conoco-Phillips Canada
January 2007
Executive Summary
A trial of the AIRDAR technology took place at the Conoco-Phillips Facility XX facility between August and November 2006. The AIRDAR Technology is an innovative fugitive emission surveillance system that provides a continuous quantification of fugitive emissions for the overall site and individual sources. The AIRDAR technology is under development with a focus of providing actionable information to the oil and gas industry.
The results of the Facility XX field trial were dominated by one very large emission source that persisted during the testing. This large emission source made it difficult to characterize smaller sources with the gas plant, but two sources outside the fence were identified. The AIRDAR technology can work around large emission sources with an adjustment to the locations of the remote sample inlets, however there was not time to make these adjustments during the field trial.
Emission maps were generated over two time periods; September 25 to October 1 (map delivered on October 5th), and October 17 to November 18 (map delivered on December 5th). The first map identified a large emission source parentheses averaging 5899 103m3/yr, valued at over $1.5 million/yr) near the amine building. An inspection of the area determined the emission source to be an amine tank which was venting at such a high rate that it generated a high-pitched sound that was audible from the ground beside the tank. Secondary quantification of this leak was not possible because plant operations declared the area unsafe and moved directly to repair. Location and quantification of other emitting sources was not undertaken in the first mapping period because of the large emission source present.
The second AIRDAR mapping period showed, once again, a significant emission source (3200 103m3/yr, over $800,000/yr) at the area of the amine tank. An effort was made in the second map to locate and quantify other sources but this was impaired because of the large source at the a mean tank and the distortion this causes. Two emission sources outside of the fence were identified in the second mapping period in areas of the facility where underground pipe lines exist.
A field survey of the plant with an emissions camera operated by a Conoco-Phillips team was conducted and confirmed that the amine tank’s venting was the largest emission on the site. The emission rate witnessed at the vent during the field survey roughly coincided with the rate predicted by the AIRDAR technology.
The venting at the condensate and sour water tanks was also characterized. These emitting sources were quantified by AIRDAR and found to average 31 and 470 10 m3/yr respectively. The camera field survey concurred with the AIRDAR assessment of the emission rates at these tanks.
The capability of the AIRDAR technology to quantify the overall emission rate and to locate and characterize large emission sources was successfully demonstrated in this field trial. The AIRDAR capability of locating and characterizing small emitting sources was not well demonstrated in this trial due to the large emission source that persisted throughout the trial.