Mr Ulbricht (ADLARES GmbH, Germany) presented the CHARM technology to detect diffuse landfill sources at the thematic event on landfill gas and water recuperation held in Potsdam on February 6, 2019.
CHARM is a methane airborne remote monitoring technology that was originally developed to detect leaks in transport pipelines for natural gas. This is a helicopter based laser system which allows for fast scanning of longtracks/large areas.
The principle of CHARM is based on remote sensing using Light Detection and Ranging.
From a helicopter two laser pulses from the system to ground surface were emitted. At the ground, the light is scattered in all directions, a small fraction of the light returns to the system, where it is detected.The two laser pulses are tuned in way that the first pulse is specifically absorbed (attenuated) by methane (the main component of natural gas) while the second pulse is not influenced by methane.The ratio of the detected light intensities is a measure for the amount of methane molecules in the laser path. An elevated methane concentration is an indication for a pipeline leak.
This technology has been used in some landfills in Germany, e.g. the Altenberge and Hohberg landfill.
CHARM finds about the same emission sources as identified by FID /LAS, it even detects emission sources which fall through the FID/LAS grid" and are not accessible by FID/LAS. But FID/LAS may find very small emissions which are too small to be detected.
Do you want to do more? Download the presentation here.
