Picarro is a leading provider of solutions to measure greenhouse gas concentrations, trace gases and stable isotopes across a range of applications.
This includes the energy and utility markets where the company’s work with a number of natural gas operators has established it as an industry leader in analytics-driven leak detection.
Picarro uses ultra-precise, yet easy to use, instruments to identify and measure greenhouse gases, trace gases and stable isotopes found in air, water and land. At the centre of the company’s technology is its patented Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) which enables the detection of target molecules at parts per billion, or better, resolution.
An international company headquartered in the US, Picarro has been steadily increasing its presence in Australia over the last five years, helping energy companies improve the safety of their infrastructure.
Data driven
The company’s mobile leak detection technology involves the driving of vehicles near the energy assets, equipped with a range of detection and monitoring equipment including a gas analyser, GPS, anemometer and a tablet inside the vehicle.
The front of the vehicle is fitted with inlet sensors where the air enters and travels through to the rear where the analysers are located.
Picarro Director of Gas Sales and Marketing Doug Ward says the company has measured more than 4 million leak indications worldwide to date.
“Our solution is all about analytics. It’s all about collecting the data from when we drive our vehicles in the vicinity of the gas assets,” he says.
“It senses the air, collects the data and measurements and transmits this information to the cloud, into what we call a data lake. That stream of information, along with other internal and external streams of information that we have, combine in this data lake and from that we have various analytics that we apply depending on the intended application.”
Once Picarro has this data, it can be used for multiple use cases including leak surveys, pipeline replacement optimisation, risk reduction and emissions reduction.
“For example, we have algorithms that will quantify the emissions that are being seen by the vehicle,” says Mr Ward.
Vehicles will make several passes through the vicinity of the asset over two different days to account for the changes in wind conditions, after which a strong profile can be established and the different fields of view can be covered.
“The basic premise is using the wind to collect this information. It brings it to our car so that we don’t have to go out walking into a person’s yard – we can just drive and collect this data,” he says.
“You can also drive the vehicle at the speed of traffic. You don’t have to go slow; you can go up to about 75 km/hour when you are driving in the vicinity of the asset.”
Picarro’s unique technology also has the capability to differentiate which gas or gases are in the air, such as sewer gas, natural gas or vehicle exhaust.
Mr Ward says Picarro typically finds three times more hazardous leaks in half the time through its systems, while traditional survey methods have been shown to have a 66 percent false negative rate. Picarro’s methods have similar success when used to optimise the replacements of pipelines.
“Whenever you take our information and apply it, we can help gas companies and utilities extract 1.5 times more leaks in their pipeline systems than they would with their normal modelling systems,” says Mr Ward.
“This saves them a large amount of money because they’ve taken more leaks out of their system. They’ve reduced their risk and reduced their operation and maintenance cost because we’re addressing a lot more leaks per/km than would be addressed normally.”
Rather than identify individual leaks, Picarro’s analytics estimate leak density and measure the actual, aggregated methane emissions along pipe segments or areas.
Expert personnel
Mr Ward attributes much of the company’s technological capabilities and consistent growth to the quality of staff employed at the company. Approximately 25 per cent of Picarro’s staff have STEM PhDs and the company makes ongoing efforts to improve its technology.
It now boasts ownership of more than 45 patents and the company’s instruments can be found in more than 60 countries around the world. Additionally, Mr Ward says Picarro continually works with utilities and natural gas companies to improve its service, and many team members, including himself, have come across from this sector.
“My background is from the natural gas industry,” he says.
“I have more than 30 years in the natural gas and utilities sectors before I came to Picarro. We have several team members who are now working for Picarro who have come from the natural gas industry to bring some of our experiences, bridge any gaps and help understand what asset owners and the market is looking for.
“We continue to evolve through this ongoing work with our industry partners.”
For more information visit the Picarro website.
This article is featured in the May 2021 edition of The Australian Pipeliner.
