AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SeekOps Inc., a global leader in providing best-in-class sensors and actionable analytics to support both traditional and renewable energy sectors in their decarbonization efforts, today announced the addition of Paal Kibsgaard to their advisory board.
“It is my pleasure to welcome Paal to our advisory board,” said Iain Cooper, President and CEO of SeekOps. “Paal brings with him a wealth of experience in both deploying and managing operations on a global scale, in addition to a broad and influential network across all levels of the Energy business. Paal was instrumental in catalyzing Schlumberger’s efforts in the energy transition during his time as CEO, and this is reflected in this focus with SeekOps as we embark on our growth strategy.”
Paal Kibsgaard is currently a Partner with Veritec Ventures, an Early Stage Venture Capital company addressing the energy transition. He was previously Chairman and CEO of Schlumberger Ltd in addition to holding other senior management and operational positions. Mr. Kibsgaard was also Chairman of Borr Drilling, and holds a Master’s degree in petroleum engineering from the Norwegian Institute of Technology.
“I am excited to join the SeekOps Advisory Board as the company enters a new phase, focused on scaling up the operations and bringing their unique technology and answer products to a fast growing, global customer base.”
Paal joins Advisory Board Members David Cox, Founding Partner of the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas and Dr Simon Bittleston, Chairman of the International Scientific Advisory Board for GAPSTI at Cambridge University.
You might be surprised to know that landfills are a perfectly hospitable ecosystem for life. The phrase “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” has never been more appropriate when considering the microbiological paradise created from organic, human waste.
In a typical landfill, organic waste such as food scraps and paper decompose and release methane gas. This gas is flammable, so it must be vented from the landfill to avoid explosions. The process of decomposition is driven by bacteria that thrive in the anaerobic (oxygen-less) conditions of the landfill.
These bacteria break down complex organic molecules into simpler ones that can be used as food by other organisms in the ecosystem. In this way, a single banana peel can end up feeding countless creatures over its time in the landfill!
This cycle of breaking down and recycling organic matter is essential for life on Earth. It’s estimated that every year, microorganisms living in landfills recycle about 1 billion tons (900 million metric tons) of carbon – that’s nearly 20% of what the United States emits annually.
What is landfill gas?
The decomposition of organic waste creates ‘landfill gas’ – largely made up of methane and other greenhouse gases. Methane is a powerful, climate-warming greenhouse gas that is around 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.
How is methane used at landfills?
The methane that makes up landfill gas is considered renewable – it is created without the use of non-renewable fossil fuels. This methane, colloquially referred to as Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), can be used just like typical natural gas – as fuel for energy production, to heat homes, or power Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles.
RNG can be used in a number of ways:
Generating electricity in a gas-fired power plant
Scrubbed and used as fuel for natural gas vehicles
Supplying pipeline-quality natural gas to homes and businesses
What are some benefits of using RNG?
Landfill sites that offer RNG production can create a valuable resource out of something that has otherwise been sitting unused. In terms of air quality, burning RNG is much cleaner than burning fossil fuels. An overall reduction in total methane emissions can help to mitigate climate warming since RNG is derived from captured methane that would have otherwise been vented to the atmosphere. Its increased use can help improve local air quality by reducing emissions of other pollutants.
RNG offers a number of benefits over traditional fossil fuels:
RNG is a cleaner burning fuel, both lowering the abundance of atmospheric methane and emitting fewer harmful particulates than coal or oil when used to generate electricity.
Using RNG can displace the use of non-renewable fossil fuels, helping to reduce our reliance on these limited resources.
Producing RNG can create jobs and economic activity at landfill sites
Many operators have already realized this and implemented gas collection wells to capture the vented gas.
Why methane emissions from landfills need to be measured
The scale of landfill methane emissions
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), landfills make up almost 17% of methane emissions in the United States (see page ES-13 of the latest GHG Inventory Report). That’s about the same environmental impact as 110 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or 23.5 million more cars on the road. If a single person were responsible for this environmental impact, it would look like one person driving an average gasoline-powered car 271 billion miles (which is like driving around the world 11 million times)!
A way to make methane from landfills useful
While this does qualify landfills as super emitters, it also presents an opportunity by way of RNG. What would have otherwise been flared or worse released into the atmosphere can instead increase revenue for landfills and also offer social gains.
The federal government recently put a price tag on the social cost of carbon dioxide emissions of $51 per metric ton. This makes landfill methane a socially-shared burden of nearly $5.6 billion US dollars.
The solution to landfill methane measurement
In order to turn landfill gas into RNG, it’s first important to find a solution that can accurately detect and quantify the amounts of methane emitted from landfills. There is also the need to monitor these emissions on the right time scale.
Since landfills are active living biomes, their emissions change daily with newly added waste and weather conditions. An automated solution can efficiently address this problem and benefit the environment and people living near the landfills.
Methods of landfill methane measurement
A variety of methane abatement strategies exist, but all include measurement and reporting. Some measurement technologies, like fixed monitors and OGI cameras assess emissions by making continuous measurements of fugitive methane. However, those technologies are limited because the sensors are at fixed locations and require methane to pass through them to be detected. Changing wind conditions can lead to large uncertainties when using this technology alone.
Satellites can measure snapshots of larger emissions of methane that are then aggregated over long periods of time. However, due to the nature of low-earth orbit and costly revisit times, monitoring is infrequent and limited by the weather conditions at the sites. Additionally, spatial resolution limitations make distinguishing emissions from active burial regions and waste-in-place regions nearly impossible. Fugitive emissions originating from gas collection wells and upgrading systems will remain ambiguous for landfill operators.
Lidar mounted on aircraft measures column-integrated methane concentrations. Local wind measurements or synthetic modeled wind data help to map these concentrations to a source and convert to an emission rate. However, aircraft themselves have GHG emissions and a larger carbon footprint than UAV. They also have coarse resolution making localization difficult for optimizing well placement on landfills. Scheduling and planning flights can be another difficult obstacle faced by large aircraft monitoring solutions.
The last method of methane measurement can characterize vertically resolved concentrations of methane in a way that is both flexible and timely. A sensor that uses Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) has been developed by SeekOps, Inc. and is mounted on small UAVs.
UAVs offer many advantages for methane sensing. They are lower cost, have shorter deployment times, and can fly in areas that are difficult or dangerous for manned aircraft. In addition, the data they collect is high-resolution and can be rapidly analyzed to provide actionable insights.
A summary of some of the commonly assessed pros and cons of existing technologies offering methane mass flow quantification is shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of different methane detection technologies. *Adapted from Fox et al. (2019). ** Adaptability refers to the mobility of the technology
SeekOps’ unique solution to quantifying methane gas at landfills
SeekOps monitors active methane sites throughout the country. At a recent site they were able to identify methane emissions that could have been making the site ~$30,000 per day in RIN credits (See case study in Figure 1). In this way, accurately measuring methane used for landfill RNG products is a win-win for both the landfill and the environment.
Figure 1 shows that the opportunities for RNG (specifically from landfills) are about 2-fold compared to those from Oil & Gas
An industry that has been an early adopter in quantifying methane is oil & gas. While the potential for methane mitigation and efficient energy production from oil & gas sites is great, the potential benefit from landfill sites is larger. RNG projects from landfills will have a huge impact on sourcing our global energy needs from renewable sources instead of non-renewable fossil-fuels.
SeekOps aggregated emissions data from surveys in the RNG and Oil & Gas sectors. They found that the RNG sector is leading mass flux emissions by about 2-fold. In other words, landfills emit about twice as much methane as Oil & Gas sites, even after accounting for size differences.
SeekOps service at a landfill site
The scope of landfills creating renewable natural gas
Landfills can be a great way to generate biogas and RNG revenue and provide a substantial alternative to gas from fossil fuels. The EPA shows in Figure 2 that there are currently over 60 landfill RNG projects ongoing in the US.
To this end, accurate monitoring should be the focus to maintain a close watch on lost methane. Unquantified emission rates could result in thousands of dollars of potential revenue lost each day, so special attention choosing an appropriate monitoring strategy is needed.
Figure 2: RNG operations for both Ag Digesters and Landfills (adapted from US EPA)
Landfills in the US emit around 4.4 million metric tons of methane (GHG Inventory, pp ES-13). If all of this methane were captured and traded in for RIN credits, this would amount to almost $10 billion USD per year. That equates to an average of $8 million USD annually to each of the 1,269 landfills currently operating in the US! Combining these savings with reduced operating costs originating from power generation from on-site RNG would greatly improve landfill operating efficiency in terms of dollars spent.
Why UAVs and highly-accurate sensors are the perfect fit for detecting landfill methane
Weather conditions and surface appearance at landfill sites can change by the minute, which makes accurately localizing methane emissions a difficult task. SeekOps uses UAVs to fly a wide array of patterns that capture the most accurate emissions for that snapshot in time(see Figure 3 for one example of this).
Figure 3: Schematic of a downwind flight pattern for quantifying landfill emissions. This illustrates a UAV “fluxplane” flight path along the entire downwind-edge of the landfill site. Repeat visits can happen as often as the landfill manager needs and as long as the wind direction is favorable.
For the TDLAS technology and the SeekOps service teams, there is no methane leak too small or too tall – as the UAV can fly vertical patterns up until methane is no longer observed. In other words landfill sites can benefit by understanding exactly the impact their operations are having on the surrounding environment while also equating that escaped methane to income by way of RIN credits.
Landfills are large and have dynamic topology as new waste is added every day to active disposal sites. An autonomous and repeatable flight program by UAV means sites can be monitored as frequently as the operators see fit.
Accurately understanding emissions will help to make on-site biogas and RNG programs more efficient in the future. By offering a solution that optimizes measurement frequency, spatial resolution, and flexibility, SeekOps’ technology can help landfill sites quantify and capture emissions to improve their environmental footprint and operational efficiency.
Get in touch with SeekOps
SeekOps has ever-growing operations around the world and continues to add more locations across oil & gas and RNG. If you have a landfill operation that could benefit from actionable and accurate methane localization and quantification, reach out today.
SeekOps is proud to share that they’ve been selected as the Production Technology of the Year at the inaugural ONE Future Awards earlier this month.
The ONE Future Coalition is a group that seeks to voluntarily reduce methane emissions across the natural gas value chain. The goal of this 50-company alliance is to reduce emitted methane to 1% or less by 2025.
What are the ONE Future Awards?
The ONE Future Coalition hosted its first awards event this year in The Woodlands, TX. The event sought to recognize individuals, innovators, and technologies that have made a lasting impact on the natural gas industry and helped contribute to decreases in global methane emissions.
The awards were categorized by advocates, research and development, and technology segmented by application. Nominations could be by individual, research group, or company.
About the Production Technology of the Year Award
The Technology of the Year award category focused on companies that provide innovative solutions or technology that has reduced methane emissions for natural gas companies. The criteria also required the nominee to currently be in field use and have proven results.
The Technology of the Year award was split into 4 segments: Production, Midstream, Transmission & Storage, and Distribution. With this segmentation, the award was able to recognize innovations across the full value chain of natural gas.
Who Were the Technology of the Year Category Winners?
Using an industry-leading sensor and autonomous enterprise-grade drones, SeekOps provides critical ESG emissions measurement, reporting, and verification in the oil and gas, renewable natural gas, and waste management industries. The SeekOps sensor has been independently validated with hundreds of controlled releases in peer-reviewed publications.
ZEVAC helps gas companies and operators reach their Net Zero goals more easily by delivering fuels to end-users safely and responsibly. In the past year their technology was deployed at 18 ONE Future members sites which captured 100he of gas that would have otherwise been vented.
WeldFit is company focused on products for pipelines that seeks to preserve system uptimes. Their ReCAP emissions system eliminates the need for natural gas flaring or venting during common pipeline operations. By keeping gas in the pipeline, they can reduce emissions from that pipeline by nearly 100%
Bridger Photonics’ Gas Mapping LiDAR detects, locates, and quantifies methane emissions across the natural gas value chain via aerial imaging. Their technology scans about 2000 square miles of So Cal Gas service territory per week.
How SeekOps Reduces Emissions and Pushes Boundaries in the Natural Gas Industry
SeekOps proprietary TDLAS sensor is ruggedized and field-proven for industry applications, delivering actionable emissions information. While other methane monitoring technologies are stationary or deployed using satellites or planes, SeekOps uses drones to deploy its sensor – allowing for efficient asset surveys to automatically detect, localize, and quantify methane emissions.
As federal and global mandates for independent monitoring of methane increase, SeekOps’ technology offers a scalable and standardized system that can be affordably implemented at Oil & Gas facilities globally.
Connect With SeekOps To Learn More
If your business is at risk of emitting methane – at any scale – SeekOps can help implement a repeatable, reliable, and accurate measurement system that meets and exceeds global ESG standards.
Connect with the team today to learn more by reaching out to info@seekops.com.
The Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) hosted the 12th annual ADIPEC Awards on October 31, 2022. We’re proud to announce that SeekOps has been awarded the “Oil and Gas Start-up Company of the Year” award.
“To be recognized on such a global stage as the ADIPEC Awards is truly humbling”, stated Iain Cooper, SeekOps CEO. “With the tone of conference set during the opening address by His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) calling for ‘Maximum Energy, Minimum Emissions’, we feel that this award is indeed very timely, as we have now deployed our groundbreaking quantification technology and services on all six major continents, really helping customer directly abate emissions.”
What are the ADIPEC Awards?
The ADIPEC Awards recognize leaders, innovators, and disruptors in categories such as remote operations, low carbon initiatives, inclusion and diversity – and more.
On the topic of changes in the global energy landscape, ADIPEC Awards Chairperson Fatema Al Nuaimi stated “the need for breakthrough technology and transformational leadership…has never been more urgent.”
This year, over 1,000 companies from 60 countries submitted their businesses for qualification. The finalists were selected by a committee of technical experts, and then handpicked by a selection committee of industry leaders.
Then a jury of global energy leaders announced winners at the ADIPEC Awards ceremony on Monday October 31, 2022 at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
About the Oil & Gas Start-up Company of the Year Award
ADIPEC states “Oil and gas start-ups play a vital role in pushing the boundaries in the sector by tackling pressing business challenges typically faced by corporations across the globe with a new lens.”
From smart contracts that provide transparency in global transactions to state-of-the-art hardware that measures liquid inside pipelines, past winners of the award have tackled market-wide issues in an innovative way.
Energy Robotics is a robotics solution that uses AI to improve inspection processes in the oil & gas, chemical, and utilities industries. They help asset owners operate more efficiently, improve safety, and predict needed maintenance.
HiberHilo offers remote monitoring of off-grid wells via satellites and tracking sensors. They aim to make oil and gas operations safer, more efficient and more sustainable.
Using an industry-leading sensor and autonomous enterprise-grade drones, SeekOps provides critical ESG emissions measurement, reporting, and verification in the oil and gas, renewable natural gas, and waste management industries.
How SeekOps Pushes Boundaries and Tackles Business Challenges in the Oil & Gas Industry
SeekOps proprietary TDLAS sensor is ruggedized and field-proven for industry applications, delivering actionable emissions information. While other methane monitoring technologies are stationary or deployed using satellites or planes, SeekOps uses drones to deploy its sensor – allowing for efficient asset surveys to automatically detect, localize, and quantify methane emissions.
As federal and global mandates for independent monitoring of methane increase, SeekOps’ technology offers a scalable and standardized system that can be affordably implemented at Oil & Gas facilities globally.
Connect With SeekOps To Learn More
If your business is at risk of emitting methane – at any scale – SeekOps can help implement a repeatable, reliable, and accurate measurement system that meets and exceeds global ESG standards.
Connect with the team today to learn more by reaching out to info@seekops.com.
SeekOps Receives Regulatory Approval in Alt-FEMP Filing for Repsol Canada
AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SeekOps Inc., a leader in greenhouse gas emissions detection, quantification and reporting solutions, is the technology at the heart of an Alternative Fugitive Emission Management Program (Alt-FEMP), submitted by Repsol, that has now received approval from the Alberta Energy Regulator.
Using their best-in-class, part-per-billion sensitive sensors, SeekOps deploys state-of-the-art unmanned aerial systems that leverage autonomous operations for swift, repeatable and consistent greenhouse gas emission surveys, facilitating rapid leak detection, localization and accurate quantification (LDAQ®). SeekOps is the first unmanned aerial system to be part of an approved Alt-FEMP, and builds on their record of demonstrated success in quantifying emissions for oil and gas facilities worldwide.
Independent validation by Highwood Emissions has demonstrated the effectiveness of the combination of SeekOps’ highly sensitive sensor and actionable analytics, alongside comprehensive preventative maintenance to show that the emissions reductions for this program will be as good or better than currently prescribed regulatory requirements.
Iain Cooper, SeekOps CEO said:
“Accurate quantification is at the heart of determining how effectively and how quickly emissions can be reduced. It has been pleasing to see how fast some Operators have been moving with regards to the adoption of new technologies to assist with their emission-reduction goals. It is equally pleasing to see the Regulatory authorities also embracing these technologies, with both displaying a deep understanding of their capabilities and limitations. We have demonstrated the power of automated unmanned surveys to be a safe and cost-effective solution in assessing the detailed spatial and temporal evolution of emissions, highlighting the effectiveness of operator decarbonization initiatives on their path to net-zero.”
Thomas Fox, Highwood Emissions Management President, stated:
“Advanced measurement solutions will play a critical role in decarbonizing oil and gas production. The SeekOps approval is an exciting milestone in the transition towards better detection and quantification of methane emissions. With the first approval of a drone-based methane solution, we are encouraged by the leadership demonstrated by the Alberta Energy Regulator and SeekOps.”
Austin, TX – SeekOps Inc., a global leader in providing best-in-class sensors and actionable analytics to support both traditional and renewable energy sectors in their decarbonization efforts, today announced the addition of Dr Simon Bittleston to their advisory board.
“It is my pleasure to welcome Simon to our advisory board”, said Iain Cooper, President and CEO of SeekOps. “Simon’s insights will greatly aid SeekOps’ long term growth into the oil and gas, renewable natural gas and landfill markets as we scale our operations globally. His strong focus on rigorous science, and the importance of balancing innovation and process, will reinforce the discipline already established at SeekOps to deliver high quality emissions quantification services anywhere in the world. His expertise will also be key to our broadening engagement in the academic community as we continue to incorporate the newest, proven innovations into our products and services.”
Simon Bittleston spent 35 years in Schlumberger holding a range of senior positions in the company which included Vice President Research, Vice President Product Development & Manufacturing, and Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions. Earlier in his career, he led the development of Q-Marine, a novel seismic acquisition system, for which he was also the inventor of streamer steering. He is an inventor on more than 35 patent families. In addition to overseeing more than 40 acquisitions for Schlumberger, he also cofounded the Schlumberger Corporate Venturing Group. He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Imperial College and a PhD in Fluid Mechanics from Bristol University. He is an Honorary Fellow of Darwin College Cambridge and a Professional By-Fellow of Churchill College Cambridge. Amongst his portfolio of current activities, he is Chairman of the International Scientific Advisory Board for The Gianna Angelopoulos Programme for Science Technology and Innovation, based in the Cavendish Department at Cambridge University.
“I am delighted and enthusiastic to be joining the advisory board”, said Simon Bittleston, “I am looking forward to engaging with the SeekOps’ management team and particularly with the R&D organization as they bring world class monitoring and interpretation systems to aid major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”
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