Performance of survey solutions under single-blind controlled testing protocol.

Standardized controlled testing of advanced methane detection technologies (solutions) has been identified as a step in demonstrating the emissions mitigation equivalence between these solutions and existing regulatory-approved leak detection and repair methods (e.g., ground-based optical gas imaging [OGI] camera survey) in the US and Canada. In this study, 12 solutions consisting of 4 handheld OGI cameras, 4 advanced handheld systems, and 4 mobile (automobile- and drone-based) solutions were tested under a single-blind controlled testing protocol at different periods between 2021 and 2023 at an outdoor test facility that simulates emissions from a simple, onshore North American production oil and gas (O&G) facility. Three solutions were tested again 3–12 months after the first test, using the same test protocol and facility to assess how performance changed over time. Results showed that handheld OGI cameras had comparable or better performance in terms of lower 90% probability of detection (DL90), false positive and negative fractions, and higher equipment unit-level localization performance compared to other categories of solutions tested. Advanced handheld solutions had comparable performance with the OGI cameras across all metrics except false positive fraction (much higher), while mobile solutions generally had shorter survey durations compared to other solutions. For solutions that tested twice, the performance of 2 of 3 solutions generally improved, illustrating the benefit of regular, comprehensive testing in the development of solutions. The different value propositions inferred from the various categories of solutions tested suggest that mobile solutions can rapidly survey larger areas to inform more targeted, follow-up inspections with handheld solutions. While advanced handheld solutions can be as effective as OGI cameras, mobile solutions have some difficulties to overcome to make them directly comparable or need to have a different use case.