Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) device accurately measures methane and other gases
Approved for funding through ERA’s Natural Gas Challenge in 2020, the project successfully developed and tested a surveillance technology to support upstream oil and gas to quantify and reduce methane emissions.
Qube Technologies developed a low-cost environmental surveillance technology to detect, quantify, and reduce methane emissions. The technology is unique in that it can quantify total emissions, identify the location of leaks, and classify leaks as intermittent or continuous using local environmental data, AI, and machine learning. The objective of this technology is to enable the reduction of GHG emissions using continuous monitoring to detect leaks in near real-time. This is achieved by detecting and reducing fugitive methane emissions from oil and gas facilities by finding leaks faster than intermittent surveys.
Target customers include oil and gas industry players who must meet regulations for methane emissions. The total addressable market of 45,000 Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) regulated facilities in Western Canada and 300,000 in the U.S. enabled emission reductions of 6,080 tonnes CO2e in Alberta and 40,425 tonnes CO2e outside of Alberta. As the project commercializes, it’s estimated to result in enabled emission reductions in Alberta at 6.36 MtCO2e by 2030 and 410 MtCO2e by 2050.
Reducing fugitive emissions up to 95%
The project demonstrated that the technology can help reduce fugitive emissions by up to 95% compared to baseline operations. The project was able to utilize the results from different testing environments. Simulator testing was used to optimize the placement of devices and quantify total emissions, and field-testing data was used to develop AI models.
Throughout the project, Qube’s biggest learning was how to create awareness around the value of measured emissions when the industry is used to methane emissions being estimated. Using empirical data from actual measurements can greatly increase the accuracy of reporting, thus paving the way for methane reduction. The project highlighted the efficacy of the continuous monitoring system, and Qube became a global leader in the emissions monitoring market through this project. The project also created high-value tech jobs in Alberta, such as computer scientists, data scientists, and atmospheric scientists.
What’s next?
Qube is continuing to grow into the market and maintain their position as the leading continuous monitoring technology and service provider. Their technology has been installed at thousands of sites across the province and the globe. The project enabled a category-leading product to be brought to market. Qube is now a global leader in the emissions monitoring market, and their products are now being deployed around the world. Qube is planning to deploy products in other high-emitting industries in addition to oil and gas, such as landfills, mines, and agriculture feedlots.