Thanks to the ingenuity of some early visionaries, the use of infrared technology for leak detection is gaining a foothold at industrial sites in the Gulf South.
As 10/12 Industry Report details in a feature from the current quarterly issue, the technology—originally developed for the military—was adapted for industrial use by some opportunistic entrepreneurs who saw a need for a more efficient means of locating “fugitive emissions.”
ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge has long been an advocate of IR technology. In the early 2000s, officials at its Baton Rouge complex were introduced to it by Texas inventor David Furry. At the time, Furry’s company, Leak Surveys Inc., used a helicopter-mounted IR camera to aerially detect emissions from a variety of industrial sources.
Robert Berg, ExxonMobil’s state regulatory adviser, was attracted to the technology’s industrywide potential.
“We had some people from [the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality] come out for a demonstration, and [with a hand-held IR camera] we were able to show them a leak that couldn’t be seen, heard or smelled with visual or olfactory senses,” Berg says.
Over the years, DEQ has purchased three hand-held IR cameras for its own use. Mike Algero, DEQ Surveillance Division administrator in Baton Rouge, says the devices are invaluable.
“They are extremely useful when we’re performing compliance inspections of tank farms and refineries, because we can climb up on the ladders and view the roofs of those tanks and can actually see leaks without climbing down on the roof,” Algero says. “You can cover large areas in just a few minutes.”
Furthermore, data from an IR camera is difficult to dispute, enabling DEQ inspectors to accurately convey where repairs need to be made. Algero hopes to one day secure more of the devices to expand coverage across the state.
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