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CHARM: Airborne Detection of Methane emissions of landfills
Published on 24 September 2019
Germany
Brandenburg
This is the good practice's implementation level. It can be national, regional or local.
About this good practice
In order to identify traces of methane, CHARM® uses the property of chemical compounds to absorb light of certain wavelengths. The system emits two laser pulses of different wavelengths. The first wavelength is specifically absorbed by methane, while the second is not absorbed. Both light impulses hit the ground and are scattered in all directions. A very small part of the light returns to the system and is detected by a sensor.
The Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg contracted ADLARES GmbH to apply the helicopter-borne methane detection system CHARM® to survey the landfill Hohberg (Pforzheim, area: 14 ha) for two purposes:
- Detection of methane emission hot spots
- Determination of the total methane emission of the landfill
In order to detect methane emission hot spots the landfill was overflown along predetermined tracks. The CHARM® automatic tracking and scanning system distributed 100 measurement spots per second along the tracks finally covering the whole landfill (in total several hundred thousand spots) . The dense and complete coverage of the landfill with georeferenced measurements enabled to pinpoint emission hotspots.
For the determination of the total methane emission of the landfill the system measured the methane concentration along a track surrounding the complete landfill. In addition the wind was measured. The total methane net flux was determined numerically according to the Gauss theorem.
The Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg contracted ADLARES GmbH to apply the helicopter-borne methane detection system CHARM® to survey the landfill Hohberg (Pforzheim, area: 14 ha) for two purposes:
- Detection of methane emission hot spots
- Determination of the total methane emission of the landfill
In order to detect methane emission hot spots the landfill was overflown along predetermined tracks. The CHARM® automatic tracking and scanning system distributed 100 measurement spots per second along the tracks finally covering the whole landfill (in total several hundred thousand spots) . The dense and complete coverage of the landfill with georeferenced measurements enabled to pinpoint emission hotspots.
For the determination of the total methane emission of the landfill the system measured the methane concentration along a track surrounding the complete landfill. In addition the wind was measured. The total methane net flux was determined numerically according to the Gauss theorem.
Resources needed
The costs of CHARM® service varies with the necessary transfer flight duration of the helicopter. Commonly helicopters cost about 3000 Euro per hour of flight. In the case of the total emission determination further staff for the wind measurement is needed.
Evidence of success
The advantage of this practice compared to other established methods are the dense and complete coverage with measurement spots even in areas which are hard to access. The dense coverage yields a very small likelihood to miss an emission hot spot.
This practice enables to directly measure the total methane emission instead of numerical modelling.
This practice enables to directly measure the total methane emission instead of numerical modelling.
Potential for learning or transfer
The application of this good practice allows the landfill operator to detect emission hot spots even on hardly accessible areas, which is one requirement to reduce the methane emission of a landfill.
The determination of the total methane emission helps to determine the importance of further methane emission reduction measures.
The Public waste Agency of Flanders is investigating if this technology can be used in Flanders to determine emission from the landfills in close vicinity of gas pipelines, where the CHARM technique is applied frequently for leak detection. About 33% of all landfills in Flanders are close to such gas pipelines.
The determination of the total methane emission helps to determine the importance of further methane emission reduction measures.
The Public waste Agency of Flanders is investigating if this technology can be used in Flanders to determine emission from the landfills in close vicinity of gas pipelines, where the CHARM technique is applied frequently for leak detection. About 33% of all landfills in Flanders are close to such gas pipelines.
Further information
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Good practice owner
Organisation
Adlares
Germany
Brandenburg
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