by Gary Orlove, P.E.
ASNT NDT Level III
Infrared Training Center

Volatile organic compound (VOC) fugitive gas emissions from petrochemical facilities and refineries are a major safety and environmental concern, as well as wasteful of our natural resources. Detecting and stopping these leaks has been an arduous process via antiquated “sniffer” detection technologies, which require close proximity to any possible failure point including all gas fittings and valves. What’s really needed is an easy-to-use, non-hazardous method to inspect large areas of facilities, pipelines and transportation vehicles - all at once and in real time. And now, that technology exists.

FLIR Systems has recently announced the ThermaCAM^® GasFindIR™ infrared camera - a thermal imaging solution that has been identified as perhaps the best new tool to detect VOC leaks. Thermal imaging offers significant advantages over existing tools and technologies, such as being able to scan large areas quickly to detect leaks, greatly increasing worker productivity and improving overall plant safety, all while insuring reliability and continuity of operations.

US refineries are required to implement ongoing Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) programs to control fugitive gas emissions. Current LDAR programs have been successful in identifying and significantly reducing emissions, but are extremely labor-intensive and therefore costly. A large refinery in the U.S. can spend over $1,000,000 annually in monitoring, control measures, and record keeping for its 3,000 to as many as 30,000 components that have to be inspected. Incredibly, 90% of controllable fugitive emissions at refineries come from about 0.1% of failed components, based on an API study of 11.5 million refinery component monitoring events.

Now utilizing ThermaCAM^® GasFindIR™, the first commercially viable infrared camera capable of detecting VOC gas emissions, inspectors are able to safely and easily scan entire petrochemical facilities, gasoline refinery installations, miles of natural gas pipeline, transfer stations, and even moving transport vehicles such as supertankers, railway tank-cars and tractor trailers and get instant results. Plus, landfills emitting methane gas and other toxic chemicals into the environment may be inspected to determine health and safety risks to the environment.

How it Works

The graphs below show the transmission and absorption characteristics of three common gases that can be detected. The core technology that ThermaCAM^® GasFindIR™ is built upon utilizes an optimized narrow band-pass cold filter, specifically selected in the spectrum to detect these and other hydrocarbon gases.

   
IR transmission spectra of methane, butane, and propane (click for larger images)

Examples of the gases that ThermaCAM^® GasFindIR™ technology can detect are:

These gas leaks appear as “black smoke” onscreen due to the absorption characteristics of these gases when utilizing the filter. What was once invisible is now clear and recordable to any off the shelf video recorder for easy documenting and archiving. Take a look at the videos below. ThermaCAM^® GasFindIR™ can easily find gas station vapor recovery systems that are not functioning correctly, or may not be present at all (left video)!

           
Fugitive emissions are easily found with ThermaCAM^® GasFindIR™ (click for larger videos)

The right video depicts gas leaking from two valves next to each other. This type of situation is easily found with IR technology but one of these leaks can be easily missed by traditional methods. Utilizing IR imaging technology inspectors can:

• Scan over 3,000 connections per hour!

• Scan over 24,000 connections per shift

• Detect small leaks from several feet away

• Detect big leaks from hundreds of feet away

• Detect leaks in moving transport vehicles

See more thermal video and learn more about the ThermaCAM^® GasFindIR™ camera at the following links:

http://www.flirthermography.com/landingpages/smartLDAR/

http://www.flirthermography.com/english/cameras/camera/1080/

Straight from the World Wide Web, here is what's going on in the world of infrared thermography.

• Ancillary Products to Help Thermographers
  Hawk IR's ancillary products are designed to complement its range of IR Sightglasses and help facilitate even more detailed infrared inspections.

• Vital: HOT SPOT SCREENING
  RedNova.com, TX - May 24, 2005
  ... Thermography, or digital thermal imaging, uses an ultra- sensitive heat camera to pick up areas of the breast which are very slightly hotter than the ...

• Battle for the books of Herculaneum
  Sunday Independent (subscription), South Africa - May 21, 2005
  ... About 1 800 have so far been recovered, and although both papyrus and ink were carbonised, modern thermal imaging techniques have made it possible to decipher ...

• High-tech VR makes sense to farmer
  Delta Farm Press, NE - May 20, 2005
  ... The day after an airplane shoots the image with an infrared camera, a geo-referenced scout map will be generated and made available to Bryant and Moore on the ...

• In the Face of Danger, Turtles Press On
  Style Weekly, VA - May 18, 2005
  ... Transportation Research Council completed a year-long study of seven wildlife crossings for large mammals across the state, releasing infrared camera images of ...

• Minutemen still patrolling in Southern Arizona
  KVOA.com, AZ - May 16, 2005
  ... Armed with high-frequency scanners, hand-held walkie-talkies, thermal imaging cameras, and in some cases, side-arms, the stakeout begins. ...

Here is a selection of recent new threads by IR Community members. Feel free to click the links, see how people have responded, and post your own response if you like.

• Measuring exact temperatures with different emmissivities on IR sensor and Heat Source
  How can we measure exact temp while scanner emmissivity is set at 0.95 and the heat source emmissivity is 0.99. Can anybody help?

• pointers for use with cameras
  Does anyone know of a narrow beam pointer that throws a beam visible to a long wave camera? How about a mid wave camera?

• Trending template for Reporter 7 pro
  Does anyone have a trending template for Reporter 7 pro.

• Securing Errors & Omissions Insurance For a Part Time Thermographer Help!
  Does anyone have any experience in securing professional liability insurance for a self employed part time thermographer that is reasonably priced? It seems to me that for the small amount of business doing insulation deficiency evaluations and water intrusion surveys in residential properties the insurance exceeds the revenue. I am not an attorney, and I do realize that even with a tight contract someone can still sue you. Even if they do not win it will still cost you to defend yourself. I guess having a LLC can also help some what.
  
  Anyone out there have experience as a independent thermographer that has forgone the E&O insurance and just working of a good contract and hoping for the best?

• Asphalt Paving
  Does anyone know the emissivity of asphalt? I would like to attempt finding a condensate leak in a utility tunnel that crosses a street between two buildings. I would assume it needs to be done much the same as a roof inspection which I've done numerous times (i.e. an hour after sunset).

• Home Inspections
  I am new to the home inspection bussiness. I am trying to get information as to be able to Inspect homes and qualify costumers for the govt' incetive. (one tonne challenge). To date the gov't does not offer infrared as a way to inspect homes for this program. If someone could point me in the right direction, as to whom I could call or email, I would be very greatful. Please contact me if you are interested in helping me get this thing going. By the way This refers to the canadian thermographers.

• Thermal imaging of oil in water emulsions
  I am interested to find out if anyone has assessed/thought about thermal imaging of bulk solutions, in particular oil in water emulsions or related solutions in glass or stainless steel vessels. Is the technique useful for determining thermal conductance or capacitance in such bulk solutions. The application may be in formulating or assessing stability of such oil in water emulsions.

And of course if YOU have a question or want to start a discussion on a topic, we would love to hear from you. Just post a new thread on a message board.

Brainteaser of the Month 

Here is this month's brainteaser. Readers who email us the correct identification and explanation of the thermal pattern in the thermogram are entered into a drawing to win a prize from ITC. Please put "Brainteaser" as the subject of the message.

Click here to email your guess

Do you have an interesting image that you think would challenge other thermographers? If so please email me your image (preferably in native .img, .jpg, .tif, .tgw, or .tmw format) with an accompanying visible photo and explanation. If your image is used, you receive a gift as well.

Last Month's Brainteaser

Our winner this month is Mark Drejza, Reliability Engineer at Epsilon Products. Our thermogram contributor Jim Koniar explains his thermogram:

"This is an IR image of the floor under a steam leak, as you can see the water dripping to the floor is still quite warm (70.8°C)."

Both receive an ITC low emissivity traveling coffee mug and a big thanks.

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