Subspace-Constrained Continuous Methane Leak Monitoring and Optimal Sensor Placement

Abstract

This work presents a procedure that can quickly identify and isolate methane emission sources leading to expedient remediation. Minimizing the time required to identify a leak and the subsequent time to dispatch repair crews can significantly reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere. The procedure developed utilizes permanently installed low-cost methane sensors at an oilfield facility to continuously monitor leaked gas concentration above background levels. The methods developed for optimal sensor placement and leak inversion in consideration of predefined subspaces and restricted zones are presented. In particular, subspaces represent regions comprising one or more equipment items that may leak, and restricted zones define regions in which a sensor may not be placed due to site restrictions by design. Thus, subspaces constrain the inversion problem to specified locales, while restricted zones constrain sensor placement to feasible zones. The development of synthetic wind models, and those based on historical data, are also presented as a means to accommodate optimal sensor placement under wind uncertainty. The wind models serve as realizations for planning purposes, with the aim of maximizing the mean coverage measure for a given number of sensors. Once the optimal design is established, continuous real-time monitoring permits localization and quantification of a methane leak source. The necessary methods, mathematical formulation and demonstrative test results are presented.