Hyperspectral video camera sees leaks

Hyperspectral cameras designed to take pictures of cancer cells at 30 frames per second are now being used to spot and detect gas leaks.


Methane leaks are bad for the environment, but they are good in helping create other products. So, therein lies a conundrum.

"Reducing methane emissions is extremely important," said optical engineer Robert Kester. "Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas. But on the other hand, methane is also a valuable resource that can be used for energy as well as feedstock for chemicals, plastics, etc., so it's not good business to waste it." It is now possible to detect gas leaks in the air using a special hyperspectral video camera, said Kester, cofounder and chief technology officer of Rebellion Photonics, which created the technology to spot leaks.

The camera can immediately spot leaks in oilfields and refineries, and even determine the type of gas emitted, he said. That includes methane, a powerful greenhouse gas with 25 times the climate-warming potential as carbon dioxide.

"I never expected an oil and gas service company to be so rewarding," said Rebellion Chief Executive and cofounder Allison Lami Sawyer. "If we can come in and help our customers lower their methane emissions even by 10%, that would have a really big impact in the world and our future."

While studying cancer in pursuit of a Ph.D. in bioengineering at Rice University, Kester invented a hyperspectral camera that attached to a microscope and could take pictures of cells at 30 frames per second. The device could "see" chemicals, allowing researchers to shoot live video of cancer cells to determine whether they were malignant or benign.

"Once I developed a new way to do hyperspectral imaging, I knew I wanted to start my own company based on this invention," Kester said. "But I needed help." He reached out to a local startup incubator called Houston Technology Center, where he met Sawyer, who was getting her MBA at Rice. They formed Rebellion Photonics in 2010 to sell systems for biomedical applications.

Hyperspectral imaging is a way to visualize wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum that are outside the range of what the human eye can see. Different minerals and gasses each have their own spectral fingerprint, what Kester likened to a barcode. Hyperspectral cameras are able to read these unique bar codes and represent each one as a color.

After months of research and experimentation, he figured out how to harness the technology for wide-field imaging, like across oilfields. Ultimately he came up with the Gas Cloud Imaging camera that could sense a cloud of gas in the air and show it on a live video feed.

"The first time we detected methane with our camera was so cool because no one had ever done it like this before and it validated the initial hunch I had," he said.

The standard detectors the petroleum industry uses for gas monitoring and detection only cover a small fraction of a rig or refinery, according to Kester. The gas fumes must touch the sensors before operators end up alerted to their presence. His hyperspectral imaging camera represents a huge leap, seeing gas as it escapes from the source, long before it spreads far enough to reach a remote sensor. The camera automatically notifies operators when an invisible (to the naked eye) and dangerous gas plume is present.

For its oil industry, these is a truck-mounted camera for upstream sites, where drilling and fracking occurs, and a fixed-installation camera at many downstream sites, where oil ends up refined. One surprising finding was quite a few gas leaks come from hatches not properly closed.

"About 90% of the emissions we see are caused by human errors and are easily fixable," Sawyer said. She found at oil and gas processing sites, dehydrators used to remove water from natural oil and gas, specifically ones built before 1990, were responsible for emitting tons of methane. Sawyer also has learned oil and gas companies are running equipment and engines off the natural gas they collect, which emits methane also.

Gregory Hale is the editor and founder of Industrial Safety and Security Source (ISSSource.com), a news and information website covering safety and security issues in the manufacturing automation sector. This content originally appeared on ISSSource. Edited by Joy Chang, Digital Project Manager, CFE Media, jchang@cfemedia.com.

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