Aerial Leak Detection for Significantly Improved Integrity Assurance

From a user’s perspective, leak detection systems on dual laminate (fluoropolymer/fiberglass reinforced plastic) tanks and vessels are desirable. Leak detection systems can reduce the frequency of required internal visual/spark test inspections and alert the owner to liner problems before serious structural damage can be done. This paper describes leak and preleak detection systems installed on dual laminate vessels and problems encountered with these systems. The performance of 12 dual laminate systems is reviewed: 2 with no leak detection systems, 3 with leak detection systems and 7 with preleak detection systems.

The detection of gas leakages is a crucial aspect to be considered in the chemical industries, coal mines, home applications, etc. Early detection and identification of the type of gas is required to avoid damage to human lives and the environment. The MultimodalGasData presented in this paper is a novel collection of simultaneous data samples taken using seven different gas-detecting sensors and a thermal imaging camera. The low-cost sensors are generally less sensitive and less reliable; hence, they are unable to detect the gases from a longer distance. A thermal camera that can sense the temperature changes is also used while collecting the present multimodal dataset to overcome the drawback of using only the sensors for detecting gases. This multimodal dataset has a total of 6400 samples, including 1600 samples per class for smoke, perfume, a mixture of smoke and perfume, and a neutral environment. The dataset is helpful for the researchers and system developers to develop and train the state-of-the-art artificial intelligence models and systems.

LPG is a common industrial and household item, which is extremely flammable. Many accidents have occurred because of LPG leaking, whose causes range from improper installation to the usage of faulty gas cylinders. Serious accidents that cause bodily harms or even fatalities can be avoided if the leakage is detected early before it initiates huge fires and causes damage to the surrounding where the LPG container is installed. This study proposes and develops an improved design of a system which detects LPG leakage, such as methane, butane, or any other petroleum-based gaseous liquid. Combining the gas leakage detection system with an IoT system shall provide mechanism to instantly contain the severity of LPG leakage and send instant alerts. In this system, an MQ-6 sensor and NodeMCU with ESP8266 WIFI module are used to detect gas presence, in which a relay will turn on to activate an exhaust fan to instantly reduce gas concentration whilst sending alert notification to user via an app. The information will then be transmitted over the internet to a database, in which the information will be accessible via an app configured specifically for the accessibility by the user.

The use of a proper leak detection system in pipelines is of crucial importance in water transmission systems. In these methods, we should consider the time and accuracy of leak detecting procedure for preventing energy loss and reducing environmental impacts. In these days, seawater transmission lines are used for cooling systems, and for injecting water into the oil wells to improve oil recovery. Due to the more environmental impacts of saltwater, the leak detection system must have appropriate accuracy and speed in leak detection. The purpose of this paper is to choose a leak detection system for a saltwater transmission line. First of all, the specifications of different leak detection systems are provided. Finally, according to the mentioned project conditions, the most suitable method -fiber optic system- is recommended for these conditions. The most important advantages of this system are high accuracy, rapid leak detecting, and the ability of online monitoring of other parameters, such as temperature distribution or detecting intrusion into the buried line areas. These abilities result in improving safety and optimizing operating costs.

Chapter 9 - Leak Detection Performance, Testing, and Tuning

This report was initially designed to provide a comprehensive review of potential leak detection technologies (LDTs). To this end, the report would contain several sections outlining the selection process. The purpose was twofold:(l) the reader would have a clear understanding of why specific technologies were recommended or not recommended, and (2) the reader could apply the same process in the future as new LDTs become available. Curtailment of project scope has prevented the development of the requisite judging criteria. The report has been modified accordingly. Section 2 of this report presents the baseline and guiding assumptions that were used to judge the LDTs. These assumptions include the environment where the technologies would be employed, the potential leak detection targets, and anticipated leak mechanisms. Section 3 presents a brief review of the methods used to arrive at the recommended LDTs. It also includes a description of the different technology families considered. Section 4 presents the recommended LDTs along with detailed descriptions of each that include sensitivities, operating parameters, and costs.

This paper presents an automated gas leakage and fire detection system designed to enhance safety in residential and industrial environments.Leakage of combustible gases and accidental fire outbreaks pose significant risks to human life and property, particularly when detection or response is delayed.The proposed system employs an MQ-series gas sensor and an infrared flame sensor interfaced with a microcontroller-based control unit for continuous environmental monitoring.When the detected gas concentration exceeds a predefined threshold or when flame presence is identified, the system immediately triggers an audible alarm, activates an exhaust fan for forced ventilation, and mechanically shuts off the gas supply using a servo-driven regulator mechanism.These actions are executed without human intervention, thereby reducing response time and preventing hazard escalation.Experimental evaluation demonstrates that the system reliably detects abnormal conditions and initiates safety measures within approximately one second.The proposed solution is cost-effective, reliable, and suitable for deployment in domestic kitchens, laboratories, and industrial facilities where flammable gases are commonly used.

The increasing use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in India has raised safety and efficiency concerns, leading to the development of an IoT-enabled Automatic LPG Gas Leakage Detection and Regulator Control System. This system integrates a Node-MCU ESP8266 microcontroller with an MQ-6 gas sensor and a load cell for accurate monitoring and leak detection in both household and industrial settings. It features real-time data processing, immediate hazard response, and an automatic shut-off mechanism. With Blynk Edgent Cloud services, users can remotely monitor and control the system via a mobile app, ensuring continuous safety. The research shows high accuracy and cost-effectiveness, making it suitable for widespread deployment. The paper discusses testing results and socio-economic implications, emphasizing its potential to reduce accidents, save lives, and promote efficient energy use, aligning with smart city initiatives for urban safety and sustainable development.

The Appomattox asset, which currently has an expected production of 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), is a floating production system fed by several subsea production drill centers in the Gulf of Mexico, located in blocks MC437, 348, and 391-393. As the focus on in-situ leak detection has grown, two leak detection systems were implemented at Appomattox. Each uses an entirely different methodology for leak detection. The Conditional Rate of Change (C-ROC) algorithm resides in the production control system and uses existing subsea pressure sensors. This algorithm was developed by Shell and is detailed in separate publications. Developed in parallel to the Appomattox project, C-ROC was added to the project later in the project lifecycle as it has become the Shell Gulf of Mexico standard for leak detection. In addition to the C-ROC method, each of the production drill centers has an Acoustic Leak Detector (ALD), provided by Naxys AS, a Baker Hughes business. These units are being piloted by Shell for the Gulf of Mexico. The ALD acoustically monitors the production manifold, wells, and associated flowline hardware at each drill center. The system is designed to distinguish the difference between background noise and actual leaks. Implementation of each of these technologies leverage several other novel technologies and uses of existing technologies at Appomattox, including high bandwidth communications to support ALD and high-fidelity process simulation to both validate and train operations staff on the C-ROC algorithm. This paper provides an overview of each leak detection system, details the technologies leveraged to implement these systems, and relates the project experiences thus far with each method.

The use of statistical tools to improve the decision process within leak detection is becoming a common practice in the area of computer pipeline monitoring. Among these tools, the sequential probability ratio test is one of the most named techniques used by commercial leak detection systems (Zhang and Di Mauro, 1998, “Implementing a Reliable Leak Detection System on a Crude Oil Pipeline,” Advances in Pipeline Technology, Dubai, UAE). This decision mechanism is based on the comparison of the estimated probabilities of leak or no leak observed from the pipeline data. This paper proposes a leak detection system that uses a simplified statistical model for the pipeline operation, allowing a simple implementation in the pipeline control system (Di Blasi, M., 2004, “Detección y localización de fugas en sistemas de transporte de fluidos incompresibles,” MS thesis, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina). Applying real-time recursive linear regression to volume balance and average pipeline pressure signals, a statistically corrected volume balance signal with reduced variance is derived. Its average value is zero during normal operation whereas it equals the leak flow under a leak condition. Based on the corrected volume balance, differently configured sequential probability ratio tests are presented to extend the dynamic range of detectable leak flow. Simplified mathematical expressions are obtained for several system performance indices, such as spilled volume until detection, time to leak detection, minimum leak flow detected, etc. Theoretical results are compared with leak simulations on a real oil pipeline. A description of the system tested over a 500 km oil pipeline is included, showing some real data results.

This article examines and analyzes the collection and preparation systems in oil fields. It explores the conditions under which various technological schemes are applied during the process. The establishment of large centralized collection points greatly simplifies the collection schemes of oil and liquid hydrocarbons from separate deposits and creates favorable conditions for their integration into large objects. It is more profitable to separate oil and gas in large centralized facilities than in small facilities. Such centralization allows to reduce the loss of light oil fractions, to improve oil production, to provide deeper processing of gas, and to ensure maximum extraction of raw materials for the chemical industry. Today, in the oil and gas regions of many countries, great work is being done on the development of oil and gas gathering systems, and the technical and economic basis of oil and gas gathering and preparation and shipping is being analyzed. In the future, the development of optimized oil collection and preparation systems is planned, with the goal of integrating these systems into national budgets. This article was prepared on the example of a mine as part of the research and includes the application of the results in these mines. The technological losses in the fields during the initial preparation of the extracted oil in the fields were analyzed. In this process, losses of oil with associated gas, together with separated water and by evaporation in the reservoir are considered. The article also calculates the amount of oil that could be recovered by mixing with satellite gas, specifically for the Kokdumaloq and Southern Kemachi fields, and provides recommendations for reducing these losses.

Thirty Corporate Oil &Gas Working Owners in the Calgary Gas Fieldsbecame shareholders of Petrogas Processing Ltd. for the purpose of establishinggas plant processing facilities to process their combined gas reserves of inexcess of 1500 billion cu. ft. Jefferson Lake Petrochemicals has been appointedthe Operator of the Petrogas Plant Facilities. This $13,000,000 Plant facility consists of some 135 miles of field pipeline systems; a gas purification section design for 150 million cu. ft./daycapacity utilizing the Hot Potassium and Conventional Amine treating processes;a modified Claus process to produce 875 long tons/day of elemental sulphur; aconventional refrigeration unit for 125 million cu. ft./day of pipe line gasdelivery to meet water and hydrocarbon dewpoint specification; and, a 2200bbl./day liquid condensate stabilization unit. The combined plant inlet gas streams have approximately 24% acid gas, or 16%hydrogen sulphide and 8% carbon dioxide. The use of the Hot Potassium gaspurification section is proving very satisfactory for extracting a large partof the acid gas having this ratio of acid gas volumes. The plant design hasresulted in lower capital costs, less gas fuel consumption and comparativelylittle chemical losses as compared to other gas processing plant designs in Canada. Glycol pipe line delivery and gathering systems to and from each wellheadfor gas dehydration in the fields is used whereby central plant regeneration ofthe glycol can be obtained. This type of functional design will reducecorrosion in the gas gathering systems and prevents excessive gas hydratesoccurring at the 1200 psia gas gathering pressures. With the Crossfield gasfield now having proved 81.4 square miles and the Elkton gas field havingproved 47.7 square miles of productive area, the field gas dehydration designcapital cost has proved to be comparatively low for the five Elkton gas wellsand eight Crossfield wells now connected to the Plant. As additional gasproducing wells are completed in these large fields, the unit cost/wellheaddehydration will continue to be reduced.

The "Automated LPG Gas Leak Detection and Response System for Enhanced Home Safety" is designed to detect and respond to gas leaks in real time, ensuring a safer home environment. This system utilizes an Arduino microcontroller connected to an LPG gas sensor to continuously monitor the air for potential leaks. When a gas leak is detected, the system automatically activates several safety measures: the GSM module sends an alert message to the homeowner, the relay switches off power to electrical outlets such as bulb holders to prevent sparks, and the servo motor adjusts the angle of a window, simulating its opening to ventilate the room. Additionally, a buzzer sounds to alert individuals nearby, and information about the leak is displayed on an LCD screen. This automated response reduces the risk of fire and explosion, offering an effective, responsive solution for home safety against LPG leaks. Information about the leak is displayed on an LCD screen. This automated response reduces the risk of fire and explosion, offering an effective, responsive solution for home safety against LPG leaks

Leak detection systems for liquid pipelines are installed to minimize spillage in case of a leak. Therefore reliability, sensitivity and detection time under practical operating conditions are the most important parameters of a leak detection system. Noise factors to be considered among others are unknown fluid property data, friction factor, instrument errors, transient flow, slack-line operation and SCADA update time. The opening characteristics and the size of leaks differ considerably from case to case. Each software-based leak detection method available today has its particular strength. As long as just one or two of these methods are applied to a pipeline a compromise has to be found for the key parameters of the leak detection system. The paper proposed illustrates how a combination of several different software-based leak detection methods together with observer-type system identification and a knowledge-based evaluation can improve leak detection. Special focus is given to leak detection and automated leak locating under transient flow conditions. Practical results are shown for a crude oil pipeline and a product pipeline.

Recent advances in PLC, SCADA and leak detection system technologies lead to the development of a highly integrated control system. Interconnected with fiber optic communication speeds (OC-1), this level of integration moves away from the historic model of stand-alone field controllers connected over low speed communication links to a centralized control center which, in turn, exchanges data from the host system to stand-alone leak detection processors. A new system design approach utilized familiar pipeline control elements such as PLC controllers and MODBUS communication protocols in combination with elements more typically associated with an office environment such as Windows NT servers, PC compatible computers, and Ethernet TCP/IP communications networks. These open-architecture components were used to fully develop, debug and test the SCADA system prior to system startup. The pipeline simulator is used as the centerpiece for this process to perform thorough operational validation of the system long before initial linefill. Once the various components were fully tested they were exported to the physical system in an operational state. The result is nearly seamless control systems supported by high data rates, high model speeds, common databases, and multi-channel communications. The increased level of integration has had dramatic impacts in leak detection, system safety, engineering development, operator training, and overall reliability of the control systems. The following paper presents a narrative overview of these new developments in the context of an implementation on Pacific Pipeline System (PPS). PPS is a recently constructed and commissioned 209 km (130 mile), 50.8 cm (20″) diameter, hot crude oil pipeline between the southern portion of California’s San Joaquin Valley and refineries in the Los Angeles basin. Following the Interstate 5 corridor over the “Grapevine”, Tejon Pass, Angeles National Forest and through heavily populated areas, this pipeline traverses some of the most environmentally and safety sensitive regions in the United States. The joint federal and state Environmental Impact Report / Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) set high hurdles for leak detection and control system performance. The historic control architecture and technologies were not adequate. This paper provides an overview of the environmental and physical constraints of the Pacific Pipeline System alignment, hydraulics, pumping and metering equipment, and block valve locations. It also discusses their impact on the design, programming and commissioning of a SCADA system meeting the requirements of the EIR/EIS. The paper then describes in more detail the fiber-optic communication system, control system architecture, SCADA system, leak detection models, simulator models and implementation methods, along with the engineering decisions leading to a comprehensive solution for the SCADA and leak detection requirements.