Transforming Methane Measurement, Monitoring and Mitigation

June 21, 2023

Transforming Methane Measurement, Monitoring and Mitigation

by Chelsea Julian

The University of Oklahoma has received funding from the Department of Energy to improve the prediction, sensing, monitoring and reduction of methane and natural gas emissions. This comprehensive research effort aims to advance technology to enhance monitoring and quantify natural gas emissions and support an essential industry need for carbon accounting – how organizations track greenhouse gas emissions to limit climate change.

“Since the launch of the Lead On, University strategic plan in 2020, the University of Oklahoma has been strengthening research efforts around energy and environmental sustainability,” said Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, Ph.D., OU vice president for research and partnerships. “From internal support and investment in this research, OU is growing efforts to advance the hydrogen economy, leading the commercialization of fusion energy, and supporting natural gas emission detection, monitoring and reduction.”

The projects will receive an expected $9.63 million over five years from the Department of Energy and associated support from industry, academia and other research organizations.

Blueprint of the regional-scale surface-based CH4 monitoring network solution

Detecting Methane Emissions

Binbin Weng, Ph.D., assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Gallogly College of Engineering at OU, is the lead principal investigator of the project “A Regional-Scale Showcase of Hybrid Methane Sensing Networks in the Anadarko Basin.” The project is funded by an expected $8.49 million over five years. Project partners include Flogistix, Devon Energy, Coterra Energy, EnLink Midstream, Cimarron Electrics, AT&T, and SenseAir, as well as collaborators at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.

In addition to the external industrial and academic partners, Weng’s research team is collaborating with multiple OU centers and institutes to develop a scalable, integrated surface sensor network system that measures and monitors methane concentration and leak plumes in the Anadarko Basin – one of the largest domestic sources of natural gas in the U.S.

The pilot study will focus on a large oil and gas production area over a tract of land approximately 10 miles by 10 miles west of Oklahoma City, which contains more than 100 active upstream drilling wells and some midstream processing facilities.

“We have a strong multidisciplinary team to build an integrated sensor-modeling - visualization platform for real-time methane detection and decision-making system,” Weng said.

The results of this study aim to help companies detect any accidental methane emissions and comply with carbon mitigation regulations. Using this scalable sensing platform, the first-stage target is to narrow the detection resolution down to 100 meters, and through further testing and refinement, the researchers believe this system could achieve detection at the meter scale – specific enough for oil and gas employees to find and mitigate methane leaks.

“The automation concept here is to minimize the involvement of human beings as much as possible. You cannot send people out over a large regional scale or tens of miles every day and every moment. It’s practically impossible. So, we developed an approach that I would say is one of its kind,” Weng said.

“Eventually, we want this to have a very easy-to-read interface, so oil and gas employees will quickly know what action to take. OU’s Data Institute for Societal Challenges will take our technology and create software that is easy to access, navigate and give companies a good action plan,” he added.

Automating Emission Detection

David Ebert, Ph.D., the director of OU’s Data Institute for Societal Challenges and affiliate faculty in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the lead principal investigator of a one-year design grant to develop this technology. The project, “A Multi-Scale Methane Monitoring System for Enhancing Emission Detection, Quantification and Prediction,” is funded by an expected $1.14 million, including support from Devon, Coterra and EnLink MidStream. Ebert’s team will create a comprehensive design, deployment, and operation plan to guide future technology implementation using data management and analysis processes.

“Our system design will enable a fully integrated, continuous methane monitoring and reporting platform that could accelerate actions toward a ‘leak-tight’ natural gas production chain from facility-scale to continent-scale,” Ebert said. “The platform will also provide accurate assessment and prediction of methane distributions over the U.S. and enable rapid response to detected emissions.”

By integrating state-of-the-art sensor technologies with advanced emission modeling methods, the researchers believe developing an integrated network system could offer a turnkey solution for real-time regional-scale methane emissions monitoring.

Developing Workforce Training and Tribal Nations Outreach

The growth in energy-related research at OU has also created unique opportunities for supporting Tribal energy sovereignty and strengthening workforce development programs that will enable Oklahoma to be a national leader in the energy transition. In support of these goals, OU’s Institute for Resilient Environmental and Energy Systems and Native Nations Center have partnered to launch a new program, the Just Transitions Assessment Platform, known as JTAP.

“JTAP is an internship program grounded in the need to promote workforce development for Tribal undergraduate students and those from underrepresented communities at large in key aspects of risk and benefit of emerging disruptive technologies,” Tim Filley, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Resilient Environmental and Energy Systems said. “The JTAP program, in partnership with OU’s iPATH program, will launch internship opportunities delivering enhanced training in the technical, environmental, commercialization and societal aspects of emerging natural gas sensor technologies.”

Integrating Solutions for Rapid Change

The integration of these projects, paired with extensive support from industry partners, creates a unique opportunity for developing broad-scale solutions to realize rapid change.

“Great appreciation goes to the Center for Faculty Excellence and the Big Idea Challenge initiative, particularly the X-GEM project team that made this possible,” Weng said.

By creating a distributed sensor network of basin-scale coverage, developing autonomous-capable mobile sensing tools using a donated self-driving Tesla and unmanned robot, the ability to quantify and identify emission sources using advanced modeling methods, to establish an online emission visualization dashboard, supporting infrastructure and equipment transitions, and establishing workforce development programs aligned with just transition goals, the projects all come to together to allow stakeholders to take quick actions and make a real impact for mitigating climate change.