(138a) On the Lookout for Gas Leaks – a Remote Sensing Approach for Detecting Dangerous Gas Emissions within Chemical Plants

We report about recent applications of our scanfeld solution and novel application areas. scanfeld is a system for remotely detecting dangerous gas emissions in real time and it is improving the safety of ammonia installations and other chemical plants. The Grandperspective scanfeld system warns operators within seconds if ammonia or other gases are accidentally released.

The infrared optical measurement technology covers vast areas of more than 1 km² per sensor. Based on a passive spectroscopic technology the scanfeld sensors provides chemical identification and quantification of airborne substances, mainly gases that can present dangers to plant operators, the environment, and the immediate neighborhood.

The practical application and verification are demonstrated for a particular use case – the Chemelot park in The Netherlands. Here the installation of two scanfeld units allows the 24/7 monitoring of multiple processing units handling ammonia, urea, and melamine. With the connection to the operator’s DCS system the system is fully integrated in the operation of the plant and becomes an integral part of the plant management. The use of two units furthermore permits the localization and quantification of gas clouds in case of release events. The real time tomographic reconstruction of the clouds assists in providing precise warning of neighboring areas and is a direct benefit for accident mitigation.

Two aspects of the scanfeld solution are presented in more detail. Firstly, it represents an early warning solution which enables plant operators or emergency responders to react swiftly in case of unexpected emissions. In addition to that, the system collects data continuously which allows the long-term evaluation of industrial installations. Statistical methods as well as big data analysis can provide more insight about technical emissions, long term trends, and operations in general, thereby providing data for the optimization of production and preventive maintenance.