Date of Award

8-31-2022

Publication Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.Sc.

Department

Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research

Keywords

Catalytic Combustion Detectors;Contaminant Migration;Field Applications;Gas Migration;Instrumental Chemistry

Supervisor

Scott Mundle

Abstract

Canada’s energy sector accounts for approximately 44% of this country’s methane (CH4) emissions, with contributions identified to originate from production infrastructure and natural resource recovery processes. To reduce emissions and mitigate hazards such as asphyxiation, explosions, and groundwater contamination, provincial regulators [e.g., Alberta Energy Regulator (AER)] responsible for regulating the life cycle of oil and gas projects in Canada set guidelines for the identification of gases released from energy sector assets. Diverse field assessment techniques and instrumentation are used by energy sector stakeholders to identify point source emissions. Limited supporting information is available related to the comparative success of the different approaches deployed. This study characterized the reliability of field-deployable gas measurement instrumentation under laboratory and field settings and assessed the applications of these instruments for surface and subsurface gas migration (GM) testing approaches suggested by the AER. The primary focus was to evaluate the most widely available, cost-effective instrumentation, which measures combustible gases with a catalytic combustion detector (CCD). CCD reliability under ideal laboratory conditions was adequate across the concentrations and temperatures typically observed under field conditions. Field applications showed greater variability, likely due to the impact of environmental conditions such as soil moisture, soil compaction, and barometric pressure.

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