Application of new technology to measure pollutant emission rates from liquid storage tanks in the energy industry

用于液态烃的大气压储罐在能源工业的所有部门中普遍存在，并且被确定为挥发性有机化合物（VOC）和温室气体（GHG）排放的关键来源。 在加拿大上游石油和天然气行业，据估计，目前有80，000多个固定顶碳氢化合物储罐在使用。 大量固定屋顶储罐也用于下游能源部门以及农业和城市固体废物应用。 目前没有可行的直接测量方法来量化储罐的现场蒸汽排放率，而是使用粗略的模型来估计排放量，这些模型对于缓解解决方案的工程设计来说不够准确。 利用新开发的可调谐二极管激光吸收光谱（TDLAS）技术对排放通量进行光学量化，该项目的目标是直接量化加拿大上游能源行业典型的固定屋顶碳氢化合物储罐的VOC和GHG排放率。 在试点和全面实地测量之后，将开发新的重要的定量罐排放率数据和模型。 这将解决空气质量和气候模型中的几个关键知识缺口，并将对行业运营实践和监管政策产生直接影响。 与工业合作伙伴Greatario Covers Inc.合作，该项目的一个核心组成部分将是量化一种新颖的、自组装的浮动瓦片覆盖系统的减排潜力，以抑制坦克排放。 这项技术的成功部署将为行业合作伙伴及其完全基于加拿大的制造和运营链带来显着的经济效益，此外还将为加拿大和全球带来显着的环境效益。

Atmospheric pressure storage tanks for liquid hydrocarbons are ubiquitous in all sectors of the energy industry and are identified as a critical source of fugitive volatile organic compound (VOC) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the Canadian upstream oil and gas industry, it is estimated that more than 80,000 fixed roof hydrocarbon storage tanks are currently in use. Significant numbers of fixed roof storage tanks are also used in the downstream energy sector as well as in agricultural and municipal solid waste applications. There are currently no viable direct measurement approaches to quantify in-situ vapour emission rates from storage tanks, and emissions are instead estimated using crude models that are not sufficiently accurate for engineering design of mitigation solutions. Leveraging a newly developed tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) technology for optical quantification of emissions flux, the objective of this project is to directly quantify VOC and GHG emission rates of fixed roof hydrocarbon storage tanks typical of the Canadian upstream energy industry. Following both pilot- and full-scale field measurements, significant new quantitative tank emission rate data and models will be developed. This will address several key knowledge gaps in air quality and climate models and will have direct implications for industry operating practices and regulatory policy. Working with industrial partner Greatario Covers Inc., a central component of this project will be to quantify the emissions mitigation potential of a novel, self-assembling floating tile cover system for suppressing tank emissions. Successful deployment of this technology will have notable economic benefits for the industry partner and its fully Canadian-based manufacturing and operations chain, in addition to significant environmental benefits in Canada and globally.