We are pleased to announce that Prof. Kathleen Smits from the Lyle School of Engineering, Texas (USA) will give the SFB 1313 "Pretty Porous Science Lecture" #45. Her talk will be on "GHG Reduction Opportunities through Detection and Quantification of Belowground Natural Gas Pipeline Leaks".
Date: Monday, 16 October 2023
Time: 4:00 pm CET
Speaker: Prof. Kathleen Smits, Lyle School of Engineering, Texas (USA)
Lecture title: "GHG Reduction Opportunities through Detection and Quantification of Belowground Natural Gas Pipeline Leaks"
Place: Multi Media Lab (MML), U1.003, Pfaffenwaldring 61, 70569 Stuttgart, Campus Vaihingen. If you are interested in participating in the lecture, please contact melanie.lipp@iws.uni-stuttgart.de
Abstract
Natural gas leakage from underground infrastructure results in gas buildup and migration though soil and ultimately its release into the air or a substructure. To advance leak detection and quantification methods for underground leaks, there is a critical need to understand how environmental conditions affect the gas migration and how to factor this information into decision making. This seminar will highlight recent experimental and numerical modeling results on the effects of environmental conditions on methane transport caused by leaks from belowground pipelines. Kate will discuss the conditions and mechanisms affecting gas migration and ways to account for such factors in our decision making to support a more efficient leak response. Her talk will summarize key findings from a series of on-going experiments performed at the Methane Emission Technology Evaluation Center (METEC) at Colorado State University as well as numerical modeling results used to unravel the relative contribution of environmental parameters. Results illustrate how changes in subsurface, surface and atmospheric conditions can mask leak severity. Understanding the gas concentration relative to the environmental conditions could assist proper leak detection and classification. Results are important for the advancement of methods for measuring underground gas concentrations and quantifying such leak events and also applicable to ensure the integrity of other underground fugitive emissions such as carbon transport and storage operations and clean hydrogen.