Twelve different technologies from 11 organizations, ranging from drones to plane and truck monitors, have been chosen to advance to the testing phase of the Mobile Monitoring Challenge.
This initiative, presented by Stanford University and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), focuses on detecting and measuring methane emissions.
The selected finalists will undergo field testing for adaptive methane leak detection technologies deployed on trucks, drones, and planes.
“Developing innovative solutions will be instrumental in reducing methane emissions,” said Sara Ortwein, President of XTO Energy, an affiliate of ExxonMobil. “The Mobile Monitoring Challenge lays the groundwork to leverage novel and cost-effective technologies that could help companies find and manage emissions in a faster, more efficient way.”
The Mobile Monitoring Challenge aims to address methane emissions through cost-effective advanced technologies, prioritizing collaboration over confrontation.
Submissions for the challenge came from a diverse range of participants, including start-ups, established companies, and academia, such as the University of Calgary, ABB Los Gatos, Advisian, Baker Hughes, Picarro, and SeekOps, Inc., focusing on drones, while Aeris Technologies, Bluefield Technologies, Heath Consultants, and the University of Calgary offered truck systems. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and Kairos Aerospace submitted entries in the plane category. ExxonMobil and Schlumberger served as industry advisers to review the proposals.
Field testing is scheduled to commence in April, with most drone and truck-based systems being tested from April 9-13 and again in early May at Colorado State University’s Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center in Fort Collins, Colo. Stanford’s Natural Gas Initiative will administer the testing, involving large-scale methane releases at a controlled location, challenging study teams to find and quantify the released methane.
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Aircraft-mounted systems, along with select drone and truck offerings, are scheduled to undergo testing in late May in California, according to a press release.
The ultimate objective is to bring the best technologies to commercialization by 2019. Participants in the challenge view it as tapping into the ongoing technological revolution that is shaping how the oil and gas industry monitors and addresses emissions.
“There’s an enormous opportunity for utilization of unmanned aerial systems for detection and characterization of methane emissions in the oil and gas sector,” said Andrew Aubrey, Ph.D., Founder and CEO at SeekOps, Inc.
This involves integrating remote technologies capable of reaching challenging areas in the oil and gas industry.
“There’s a revolution happening in the gas sensing technologies world,” said James Scherer, Ph.D., CEO at Aeris Technologies, Inc., in a statement. “Mobile methane detection is the next frontier for the oil and gas industry, and we look forward to demonstrating the accuracy of our laser-based analyzer.”
The outcomes of the competition will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
“Going through the scientific peer-review process adds another layer of validation to our study and will help businesses and policy makers to make informed choices to achieve methane reduction targets,” said Arvind Ravikumar, a Stanford postdoctoral research fellow.
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