Gas and flame detection
Oil and gas companies constantly scrutinise new technologies that reduce the risks to personnel, property or the environment. At ONS 2024, Teledyne GFD will exhibit a range of portable and fixed detectors. The GD1 hydrogen sulphide (H2S) open-path laser detector, for example, offers high performance while overcoming the obstacles provided by challenging offshore environmental effects that include sun, rain and fog. “This popular device provides fail-safe, rapid responses in up to 98% obscuration,” says the firm.

Visitors can also learn about the GD10P infrared gas detector, which houses features that provide an effective response to the detection of gas hazards in high demand mode SIL2-approved applications. One differentiator of this product is its silicon-based solid-state infrared source. Long service life and robust detector stability help users reduce maintenance and service costs.

The stand will also exhibit the recently introduced Spyglass flame detector. “The product’s integrated high-definition CCTV video delivers clear, rapid imaging of fires,” says the firm. Colour video detects fuel fires like gasoline and jet fuel, while the near-infrared video option detects fires caused by other fuels such as hydrogen and methanol.

Thermal imaging
On the same stand, FLIR a Teledyne technologies company will demonstrate its prowess in helping oil and gas inspectors, managers, and technicians deliver quick thermal imaging solutions to problems that include leak detection and maintaining system integrity. Highlights at ONS 2024 are set to include the G-Series cameras, designed to detect hydrocarbons, methane (CH₄) and other Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions from multiple stages of the oil and gas supply chain, as well as other industrial markets.

Under the new EU Methane Regulation, which aims to reduce methane emissions in the energy sector, companies are now required to quantify methane emissions at both the source and site levels. The G-Series range features advanced gas quantification analytics within the camera itself, capable of measuring leak type and severity, ensuring compliance with the new regulation.

Elsewhere on the booth will be the advanced QL320, a quantitative optical gas imaging system for measuring the leak rate of methane and other hydrocarbon emissions captured by FLIR OGI cameras. By adopting the QL320, users no longer require a toxic vapor analyser or similar tool for secondary sampling.

Marine products
Teledyne Marine provides offshore energy equipment for reliable operation in oil fields and wind farms. Although offering a vast plethora of solutions, the focus at ONS 2024 will be subsea distribution units and downhole optical connectors.

The Modular Connectorized Distribution Unit (MCDU), for instance, is a factory-qualified subsea distribution unit that provides oil-filled, pressure-balanced junctions for flexible underwater configurations. ROVs (remote operated vehicles) can easily install and retrieve the unit from the sea floor thanks to the latest compact-frame design which eliminates the requirement for lifting wires.

A further product focus from Teledyne Marine will be the Optical Feedthrough System (OFS). This downhole, ‘wet mateable’ optical connector is for high-pressure/high-temperature environments within a vertical Xmas tree (VXT) valve stack on a subsea wellhead. Providing pressure integrity barriers and optical continuity, the OFS on display will measure 2” (50mm) in diameter and 12” (300mm) long. An associated display screen will show an animation of its operation.

Teledyne experts will be present throughout ONS 2024, ready to discuss the optimal solutions for new projects or existing challenges.

Preparations are underway to start the disposal of spent nuclear fuel in the Finnish bedrock next year, as the first place in the world to implement underground storage of high-level nuclear waste. The storage site is at Olkiluoto in Eurajoki, southwest Finland (image credit: Posiva).

After use, nuclear fuel becomes strongly radiating and dangerous waste. It contains a large amount of uranium and plutonium, which are also important ingredients in nuclear weapons. All these materials must be intact when the fuel rods are stored in their final deposit, presenting a requirement for meticulous and dependable measurement prior to deposition.

The measurement challenge has been the topic of a doctoral dissertation by Riina Virta, to be titled: “Gamma tomography of spent nuclear fuel for geological repository safeguards”.

“This way, we can be sure of what is being deposited in the bedrock, and that all nuclear materials will remain in peaceful use,” said Virta, a visiting researcher at the University of Helsinki.

All the important information must be gathered before the final disposal. The measurements must also be stored in a way that will be accessible and understandable to human beings for thousands, even hundreds and thousands of years.

For her doctoral thesis, Riina has studied methods of measurement suitable for use with nuclear waste, in work completed at the University of Helsinki in cooperation with the Helsinki Institute of Physics (HIP). She also works as an inspector in the nuclear materials safeguards section of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority.

Looking inside with a gamma camera
In her thesis work, Riina developed an imaging method called passive gamma emission tomography (PGET), which measures the gamma radiation emitted by spent nuclear fuel. Nuclear fuel consists of rods, a few metres long and containing uranium, which are gathered into an assembly to act as a fuel element. The PGET instrument can produce an exact cross-section image of the fuel assembly.

The cross-section image allows us to check that the assembly still retains all the rods. The challenging thing with this method is that the fuel dampens the radiation very efficiently.

“In practice, the radiation from the middle of the assembly just barely reaches the detector, i.e. the ‘camera’. We wanted to fix this problem in our research.”

The image quality was improved by developing the collection of data and using that data more wisely. The method was also developed so that the instrument can be used not just in water but also in air. This makes it adaptable to the Finnish plants taking care of the final disposal. The research also developed software tools to make it easier to apply the method.

The performance of the method was proven with the help of an extensive library of field measurements carried out in Finnish nuclear power plants.

“This means the method has been studied in detail and found to work well, and now we are just waiting for the operations of final disposal to start in Olkiluoto,” said Virta.

Peter Smith, Sludge Treatment expert at waste management company CSG, lifts the lid on the new sonar technology the company is using to accurately calculate how much sludge or silt is present in a body of water before removal.

Lagoons, oxidation ditches and settlement ponds are established methods of clarifying waste waters from a variety of industries. Gravity settlement is nature’s way of water clarification, but nothing is perfect.

The settled solids do not just disappear but merely accumulate on the bottom of the lagoon. The problem with this is the settled solids are in a layer and can be spread over the entire area of the lagoon – and this makes monitoring of the silt accumulation extremely difficult.

As sludge accumulates the capacity, and therefore the residence time, within the lagoon is reduced, which can result in failures of the discharge consent.

To avoid this, the lagoon owner needs to know how much silt there is and the rate at which it is increasing. If they know this, dredging operations can be carried out before the situation becomes critical.

This is where the CSG Sonar Service is invaluable. Originally developed to monitor silt build up in crude oil storage tanks, we have now adapted the technology so it can be used on any body of water.

Weighing just 25kg and easily deployed by a two-man sonar team, the Sonar Catamaran maps the surface of the layer of the silt in any lagoon. It is battery powered with two small turbines and is operated remotely from shore.

We can use this mapping technology to allow more accurate estimates of the quantities of material that would be produced by dredging. The disposal can be the costliest part of the project – often running into tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds – and it is critical that the client has a good understanding of these costs before entering into a contract.

Without sonar technology, judging the depth of the sludge is a fairly primitive and inaccurate exercise, often involving a long dipstick.

A sonar survey can be carried out before and after a dredging project, so the results are clearly visible to the client.

Some clients choose to monitor the silt build up with a regular survey on an annual basis. Most surveys can be done within the day but, obviously, the larger the lagoon the longer it takes.

In simple terms, a sonar survey on a large lagoon will show the depth of clean water above the sludge and this data is used to produce the 2D image of the silt surface.

For example, the maximum depth of the lagoon might be three metres, but in most areas the water might only be 0.7 metres deep. The problem is clearly demonstrated in the mapping image and in this case dredging work would be urgently required.

Once the volume of silt to be removed is known, the whole project is estimated and dredging can begin.

Using a remote-control amphibious dredger, the silt is pumped to shore where it is dewatered and turned to a solid cake for removal from site. The remote-control dredger dramatically increases safety by eliminating humans on the water – and reduces costs for the customer as it removes the need for a two-man rescue team to follow the dredger.

And by using the sonar device beforehand, we already have a very good idea of where the largest build-ups are, improving efficiency.

Several methods are used to dewater the sludge and the site circumstances usually dictate the most efficient method. Unlike other suppliers, we use geo bags, centrifuges or screw press to reduce the water content of the silt to a point where the solids can be transported in bulk tippers.

Geo bags are large, permeable fabric containers filled with silt and water. They are used to reduce the water content of silt by allowing water to drain out through the fabric while retaining the solid particles inside. They prevent erosion and minimise contamination – but they can take up considerable space.

Centrifuges reduce the water content of silt by rapidly spinning the mixture in a cylindrical drum, utilising centrifugal force to separate solids from liquids. As the drum rotates, denser silt particles move outward, while water is forced inward and drained away. This process effectively dewaters silt, producing a drier, more manageable material.

Screw presses reduce the water content of silt by using a rotating screw mechanism within a cylindrical screen. As silt is fed into the press, the screw advances it along the screen, compressing the material and forcing water out through the screen’s perforations.

We believe the use of sonar technology could transform the way in which sludge build-up in settlement ponds and lagoons is monitored and maintained. We also see uses in boating ponds, backwash ponds and ponds for final polishing. In fact, we recently worked on a boating pond which was almost half silt!

Don’t ignore sludge or silt – speak to the experts.

The EarthCARE satellite was successfully launched into orbit on 29 May, announced by ESA with the promise that it “is poised to revolutionise our understanding of how clouds and aerosols affect our climate”.

It was launched at 00:20 CST on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenburg Space Force based in California. Ten minutes later, the satellite separated from the rocket and at 01:14 CEST, the Hartebeesthoek ground station in South Africa received the all-important signal indicating that EarthCARE was safely in orbit.

ESA says it will provide crucial information to shed new light on the complex interactions between clouds, aerosols and radiation within Earth’s atmosphere. It uses four state-of-the-art instruments: atmospheric LIDAR, cloud-profiling radar, a multispectral imager and a broadband radiometer.

The missions is a joint venture between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and was designed and built by a consortium of more than 75 companies under Airbus as the prime contractor.

ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, said, “EarthCARE is the most complex of ESA’s research missions to date. Its development, and now launch, is thanks to close cooperation with our JAXA partners, who contributed the satellite’s cloud profiling radar instrument, and all of the space industry teams involved. The mission comes at a critical time when advancing our scientific knowledge is more important than ever to understand and act on climate change, and we very much look forward to receiving its first data.”

JAXA’s Project Manager for the cloud profiling radar, Eiichi Tomita, added, “Increasing the accuracy of global climate models by using EarthCARE data will allow us to better predict the future climate and therefore take necessary mitigation measures. JAXA provided the cloud profiling radar – the world’s first radar that can measure the velocity of upward and downward flow within clouds. We are expecting these EarthCARE data products to be remarkable.”

The EarthCARE satellite is being controlled from ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Controllers will spend the next few months carefully checking and calibrating the mission as part of the commissioning phase.

Researchers will develop new ways to monitor carbon emissions from vast swathes of peatland after winning almost half a million pounds to develop new sensors that can be used in remote areas.

Peatlands store around one-third of the world’s soil carbon, playing a vital role in reducing carbon emissions and combatting climate change. They also provide a unique habitat for rare species and help to minimise flood risks, but when they are cultivated or drained they dry out, releasing their stores of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

With more than one-tenth of land area in the UK being covered by peatland – in areas such as the Peak District, the North York Moors National Park and Dartmoor – the government is keen to support projects, such as rewetting, to manage and restore them to help the UK achieve net zero by 2050 and tackle climate change.

However, it is extremely challenging to measure the effectiveness of efforts to recover peatland. Capturing readings on an hourly or daily basis requires sophisticated and expensive infrastructure which limits the size of the area that can be monitored.

That is now set to change, suggests a group of researchers. Dr Paul Mann alongside colleagues from the Geography and Environmental Sciences and Computer and Information Sciences departments at Northumbria University, and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, have been awarded almost £490,000 funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, Defra and Innovate UK’s Innovation in Environmental Monitoring programme.

Dr Mann and his team will work across the UK to develop low-cost sensor systems that can monitor carbon dioxide and methane emissions from peatlands. A key test site will be the ICOS Auchencorth Moss station near Edinburgh, where they will be able to measure greenhouse gas exchange between air and peatland and compare their results with high-precision ICOS data time series from the same site.

The group says the work will lead to improvements in carbon release estimates in the UK and support the transition to net zero. The team will also test if these solutions are capable of monitoring greenhouse gas changes occurring in extreme locations such as Arctic Canada and Finland.

The sensors to be developed for the project will be able to work remotely while using very little power, so they can be left unsupervised for months, regularly sending back readings to a shared hub. This will allow networks of monitors to be deployed across much larger areas of the UK.

The study – known as GEMINI – is one of 13 to have received a share of £12 million funding to harness the potential of new sensing and monitoring technologies.

Dr Mann, an Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences who specialises in carbon cycling, said: “As the UK strives to achieve net zero emission targets, the demand for accurate and widespread measurements of greenhouse gases is increasing.

“The GEMINI project aims to develop low-cost, and easy-to-use instruments to measure how our landscapes breathe and trap these gases, helping us capture carbon here in the UK and in rapidly changing places like the Arctic.”

He added: “Effective, high-quality monitoring is essential to meeting global environmental goals. It enables us to track the status of our natural environment, measure the success of interventions that tackle climate change, and support UK decision-making.”

It is hoped that the new services, systems and technologies developed thanks to this funding will be made more widely available for research, government and business use, helping to drive growth and commercial opportunity in the UK.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said: “This funding will support our world-leading scientists develop new capabilities for understanding and monitoring the natural environment and allow us to develop better quality evidence faster and more efficiently – in turn helping us create a cleaner and greener environment.

“There is also terrific potential for any successful environmental monitoring products and services to be exported internationally, supporting nature recovery globally and boosting the reputation of the UK scientific community.”

Dr Iain Williams, Director of Strategic Partnerships for NERC, added: “This investment by NERC and Defra will help to deliver a step-change in environmental monitoring, modelling and decision-making.

“It supports UKRI’s ambition to help businesses to grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes, and services, supported by an outstanding research and innovation ecosystem.”

A research group in Japan has demonstrated that airborne microplastics adsorb to the epicuticular wax on the surface of forest canopy leaves, and that forests may act as terrestrial sinks for airborne microplastics

The study used a new technique to measure the levels of microplastics adhering to the leaves. It was conducted by a multi-institutional research group led by Professor Miyazaki Akane of Japan Women’s University.

Airborne microplastics are tiny plastic particulates (less than 100 µm) that become suspended in the atmosphere and dispersed throughout the environment, but it has been unclear where they end up. Forests have been known to accumulate airborne pollutants, but their ability to capture airborne microplastics has been poorly understood.

“We investigated airborne microplastics on konara oak tree leaves in a small forest in Tokyo,” said lead author Natsu Sunaga. “We wanted to determine a reliable method for analyzing levels of these microplastics on leaf surfaces, and how exactly airborne microplastics become trapped by leaves.”

The team examined the leaves of Quercus serrata, a species of oak representative of Japanese forests. To extract the plastics, the leaves were treated using three processes: washing with ultrapure water, simultaneous treatment with ultrasonic waves and washing with ultrapure water, and treatment with an alkaline solution of 10% potassium hydroxide.

“We found that airborne microplastics strongly adsorb to the epicuticular wax on the leaf surface,” explains Akane Miyazaki, senior author. “In other words, these particles accumulate when they stick to the waxy surface coating of leaves.”

The team discovered that the first two treatments – rinsing with ultrapure water alone or in combination with ultrasonic waves – were insufficient for accurately determining the levels of airborne microplastics on forest canopy leaves. Treatment with alkaline potassium hydroxide, however, removed both the epicuticular wax and the substances adhered to it, proving to be an effective method for detecting airborne microplastics stuck to leaf surfaces. Crucially, previous studies that used only the first two methods may have underestimated the number of plastics adhering to leaf surfaces.

“Based on our findings, we estimate that the Quercus serrata forests of Japan (~32,500 km2) trap approximately 420 trillion airborne microplastics per year in their canopies,” states Sunaga. “This indicates that forests may act as terrestrial sinks for airborne microplastics.”

How the accumulation of these microplastics will affect forest ecosystems, including ecosystem functions and soil health, is unknown, and this will undoubtedly be an area of further research. For now, we know that forests and even roadside canopies might reduce the amount of plastic entering our lungs, and for that we have yet another reason to thank trees.

By Gauthier Eppe

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic chemicals that pose a significant threat to human health and the environment. Widely used during the post-war industrial boom of the 1940s and ‘50s, many of the synthetic chemicals introduced were used in crop production and the manufacture of a range of household goods. These chemicals have had unforeseen adverse effects, largely because of their non-biodegradability. To combat this issue, international agreements, such as the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, finalized in 2001, have been established to control and phase out the production and use of these hazardous chemicals.¹ This article explores the limitations of current analytical methods for POPs and discusses how trapped ion mobility spectrometry (TIMS) is setting new standards in the field of POPs analysis.

The persistence of POPs
POPs are toxic organic chemical substances that are resistant to degradation and have been used extensively in pesticide and industrial chemical manufacture and released during chemical and agricultural processes. POPs are ubiquitous in our environment (water systems, soil, air and sediments) and they bioaccumulate, passing from species to species through the trophic chain, ultimately ending up in the human body. POPs are a serious health concern and are known to cause a number of health implications including cancer, neurological damage, birth defects, immune system defects, learning disabilities, endocrine disruption and reproductive disorders.²

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are considered POPs and are known for their water- and stain-resistant properties.³ The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed the first federal limits on PFAS chemicals in drinking water in the US.⁴ However, the complexity of analyzing POPs and the emergence of new potential contaminants continue to challenge mitigation efforts.

Current methods of analyzing POPs
The gold standard method for POPs analysis is gas chromatography coupled with sector high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) in selected ion monitoring mode. While this technique is powerful and effective, it is primarily used to analyze targeted compounds of interest. Targeted analysis, however, only detects known compounds – and will miss the many new POPs that are emerging as a result of their persistence or chemicals breaking down and decomposing in the environment.

Many POPs are not identified, as regulatory bodies only monitor known contaminants. This means there is insufficient information regarding the potentially thousands of unregulated compounds synthesized by the chemical industry, including potential precursors and by-products that may give rise to even more harmful substances. New contaminants are constantly emerging in the environment and the food chain; therefore, it is vital to broaden the scope of analysis and develop new methods that not only consider legacy POPs, but also address those that are emerging.

This limitation of targeted analysis hinders the comprehensive analysis of complex environmental, food, and human blood samples, which contain numerous other compounds that can interfere with accurate detection and quantification. Additionally, many contaminants exist in extremely small quantities, often in sub-parts per trillion, necessitating more advanced equipment with higher specificity and sensitivity.

Faster and more accurate POPs analysis
Scientists from the Université de Liège, Belgium, are using trapped ion mass spectrometry coupled with time-of-flight (TIMS-TOF) to address the limitations of current analytical methods in detecting and monitoring POPs. Gauthier Eppe, Full Professor and Director of the MSLab and the Molecular Systems (MolSys) Research Unit at the Université de Liège, combines the precision of high-resolution mass spectrometry with software to offer rapid and accurate analysis of a wide range of contaminants such as dioxins, PFAS, and pesticides.

The difference between TIMS-TOF and other analytical methods is its unique combination of high-resolution mass spectrometry and trapped ion mobility spectrometry, a gas-phase separation technique. Adding an additional dimension of separation improves the accuracy and confidence in compound characterization within complex samples. As the technique accumulates and concentrates ions of a given mass and mobility simultaneously, it increases both the sensitivity and speed of analyses. The sensitivity of TIMS-TOF can detect extremely low levels of contaminants that cannot be detected with other conventional methods, making it ideal for analyzing and detecting even the smallest trace amounts of POPs.

Prof. Eppe has contributed to the development of various multi-residue analytical techniques, encompassing exposure characterization from agricultural supplies, food products and human biomonitoring in biological fluids. Together with his team, he is now developing and applying global untargeted characterization approaches in biological and environmental samples, specifically focusing on emerging halogenated POPs but also in metabolomics and lipidomics, utilizing mass spectrometry detection techniques such as TIMS-TOF. Prof. Eppe and his team are investigating the intricate molecular responses and biomolecular alterations induced by POPs exposure. TIMS-TOF facilitates the analysis of specified POPs as well as the detection of novel, untargeted POPs, providing an accurate and comprehensive assessment of the possible exposure to contaminants.

Advancements in POPs analysis
As POPs can enter the food chain through various environmental sources, which contaminate food webs and aquatic ecosystems, collaborations with food manufacturers are needed to monitor contamination in the food supply chain. Due to their persistence and ability to biomagnify as they move up the food chain, POPs can become concentrated in high trophic-level species, leading to elevated amounts in foods such as meat, dairy products, and fish. POPs are lipophilic, which means that they accumulate in the fatty tissue of living animals and human beings. In fatty tissue, the concentrations can become magnified by up to 70,000 times higher than the background levels.⁵

New sensitivity in food contaminant analysis
POPs pose a significant threat to human health and the environment. While international agreements and regulations aim to control and phase out the production and use of these hazardous chemicals, the complexity of POPs analysis and continuous development of new POPs is hindering efforts.

The work of Prof. Eppe and the team at the Université de Liège has led to significant advancements in POPs analysis using TIMS-TOF. Combining high-resolution mass spectrometry and trapped ion mobility spectrometry offers rapid and accurate analysis of a wide range of contaminants, including those found in food products. TIMS-TOF provides researchers with the necessary sensitivity and versatility to detect even the smallest trace amounts of POPs, ensuring food safety and protecting human health.

By continuously monitoring POPs and advancing analytical methods, researchers can collect valuable data on harmful non-target compounds, advocate for their ban, incorporate them into legislation and contribute to provide reliable and extensive data to the exposome concept. The advancements in analytical methods are paving the way for a safer and healthier future.

References
[1] Lallas, Peter L., “The Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants.” American Journal of International Law 95.3 (2001): 692-708
[2] Food safety: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), World Health Organization, November 20, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2023. https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/food-safety-persistent-organic-pollutants-(pops)
[3] Lindwall C, Ginty MM. “Forever chemicals” called pfas show up in your food, clothes, and home. NRDC. April 12, 2023. Accessed November 15, 2023. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/forever-chemicals-called-pfas-show-your-food-clothes-and-home.
[4] Phillis, M., “EPA to limit toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water.” AP News, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/epa-pfas-forever-chemicals-water-contamination-regulations-560d0ce3321e7fa8ed052f792c24f16f
[5] Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and pesticides. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Pesticides. Accessed November 2, 2023. https://www.unep.org/cep/persistent-organic-pollutants-pops-and-pesticides.

An electronic nose to sniff out soil health that will deliver results to a farmer’s phone in five minutes is being developed by PES Technologies. The company says it is able to create an aroma fingerprint from gas released by microbes in the soil. These organisms are essential for breaking down organic matter and making nutrients available to plants, but current biological lab tests are expensive and take ten weeks to provide results.

Presenting the prototype at the Agri-TechE REAP Conference 2023, Jim Bailey, CTO and Co-founder of PES Technologies, said: “Microbes in the soil are producing gases all the time through various means. Our product is essentially a sophisticated electronic nose that reacts to these gases as they are given off from the soil to create an electronic fingerprint for the sample.

“This fingerprint is then run through our machine learning algorithm that has been trained using soils of various types from across the UK, and results provide soil quality indicators for the specific soil sample. The whole process, from loading the soil sample to receiving results to your phone, takes a little over five minutes. There is no need to transport samples back to a lab, which saves further time.”

The emergence rate of seedlings is a key indicator of future yield, so optimising conditions on the seedbed is vital for the establishment of the crop. With precision agriculture it is increasingly possible to target fertiliser or seed rate according to the conditions, but the farmer has a small window of opportunity to do this, and soil composition and health can vary across the field. The PES device would provide the information required to inform these decisions.

Jim continued: “The results are available immediately, enabling in-field decisions to be taken when it is relevant and matters. The GPS function will enable the information to be integrated within other field maps used to direct precision farming.”

The electronic nose also provides an objective and consistent measurement of soil health over time. The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pays farmers to improve soils and nutrient management, so this is another benefit, explains Jim.

“As the testing will be cost-efficient, numerous samples can be made by the farm team, and the GPS and time stamping of the result enables tracking of changes with time. The GPS function will navigate you back to the same location through your phone to ensure repeatable samples. This provides an audit trail for the field, which may be helpful when applying for SFI.”

The idea for the sampling system came after a conversation with NIAB-EMR soil scientists highlighted the current issues that farmers have in assessing their soil health, particularly soil biology.

“We then completed a proof of concept Innovate UK project with NIAB-EMR, who were providing their soil science expertise, and a much larger follow-on project that included NIAB-EMR, Hutchinsons, University of Essex, the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich, and the Small Robot Company.

“From REAP, we are interested in meeting end-users – particularly agronomists – as well as collaborators. Our electronic nose could potentially be trained on more indicators than the ones that we will offer on launch, and we are keen to explore what people are looking for. We are happy to talk to companies that would want to fund a machine learning dataset for their own market niche and then utilise our hardware and machine learning support in that market.”

The product will launch commercially in 2024.

Find out more at pestechnologies.com.

Find out more about REAP at reapconference.co.uk.

In what seems to be a first, a UK methane leak has been spotted from space, and mitigated. Methane leaking from a faulty pipe in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, was picked up by satellites orbiting 500km overhead in April 2023. The discovery, by NCEO researchers at the University of Leeds, relied on data from satellite firm GHGSat.

Scientists came across the leak while working on a project investigating the ability of sensors mounted on telecommunication towers (the UK DECC network) to measure atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions. While reviewing data acquired through ESA’s Third-Party Missions programme to support the project, the Leeds team identified an unusually large source near a landfill site they were focusing on. The source, near Cheltenham, was releasing methane at a rate of over 200 kg/hr. This was subsequently confirmed by researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, who visited the site with their mobile measurement vehicle.

The plume was identified with the help of GHGSat’s fleet of nine commercial satellites, which monitor greenhouse gases at a resolution down to 25m on the ground. “These high-resolution satellites attribute emissions to individual facilities – and with unprecedented sensitivity, making small leaks visible and accurately measurable from space,” said the firm.

The firm first recorded the Cheltenham emission on 27th March, at which point it re-tasked its constellation, increasing the allocation of capacity over the site. This presaged five further measurements over a period of two months, showing emissions ranging from ~200 – 1,400 kg/hr.

The researchers and GHGSat immediately alerted the owner of the pipeline, Wales & West Utilities, who moved promptly to address the problem. Following an investigation, repairs were completed by June 13th, after which time GHGSat satellites recorded no further emissions.

It has been estimated that the total volume of methane that leaked from the pipe over the 11 week-period was equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 7,500 average homes, according to the EPA calculator.

A scientific paper – evaluating the role that satellites can play in pinpointing methane leaks, with lessons drawn from the events in Gloucestershire – is being written by the researchers at the University of Leeds and GHGSat.

Emily Dowd, Principal Investigator and PhD student at the School of Earth and Environment and the National Centre for Earth Observation, University of Leeds, said: “Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas and this work has shown that satellites can now provide a system to rapidly identify where leaks are happening so that action can be taken to minimise emissions and therefore the climate impact.”

Bryn Orth-Lashley, Technical Operations and Service Delivery Manager at GHGSat, said, “This is a compelling example of why we must work collaboratively, bringing technologies, sectors, and people together to tackle a challenge as complex as climate change. The utility owner was able to fix the issue with credible and actionable information. With a growing satellite constellation measuring industrial emissions every day, these are the tangible outcomes that have an impact on emission reduction goals.”

Claus Zehner, Sentinel-5P Mission Manager at ESA, said, “This unexpected detection of a methane leak using GHGSat measurements by the University of Leeds and the quick repair of it as a follow up by the utility owner is really an impressive example of active climate mitigation.”

GHGSat, an ESA Third Party Mission (TPM) since 2022, serves as a complement to Sentinel-5P and other existing and future missions. The data is used increasingly in a range of ESA Earth observation domains linked to Climate Change and Atmosphere Monitoring. The mission allows the identification of methane hot-spots and emissions, providing new insights about the Global Methane Cycle, supporting European scientific activities on monitoring of international climate treaties in synergy with ESA/Copernicus missions.

In June of this year, GHGSat signed a new £5.5m partnership with the Satellite Applications Catapult, to provide satellite data on domestic and international methane emissions to UK organisations. In addition, GHGSat will provide observation data directly to the UK Government and Ordnance Survey. The company is also opening an international analytics centre to be co-located in London and Edinburgh.

OMRON, a leader in industrial automation solutions, has launched its new OMRON MicroHAWK F440-F Smart Camera. This highly configurable smart camera with a 35 frame-per-second 5-megapixel monochrome global shutter sensor brings exceptional performance to virtually any machine vision application.

The F440-F boasts a host of features that make it a standout solution in the industry. Its C-mount lens compatibility and support for external lighting options allow users to optimize their imaging setup. Additionally, the F440-F’s compact size positions it as the smallest smart camera in its class, ideal for space-constrained environments. OMRON’s intuitive AutoVISION setup tool allows for quick and easy configuration of highly complex applications, empowering users to achieve optimal imaging performance in a fraction of the time.

What sets the F440-F apart is its compatibility with existing systems. It is pin-compatible with the MicroHAWK F430-F smart camera, ensuring a clear upgrade path without the need for complex rewiring. Ensuring seamless integration and connectivity, the MicroHAWK F440-F supports various communication protocols, including Digital I/O, RS-232, Ethernet TCP/IP, EtherNet/IP, and PROFINET. Power options are equally flexible, with the F440-F supporting both Power over Ethernet (PoE) and direct 24V power supply.

The OMRON MicroHAWK F440-F Smart Camera is now available to order. Find out more and discover OMRON’s complete range of quality control and inspection systems.
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