A three-year study to be completed in 2020 is ongoing to quantify fugitive Greenhouse Gas (GHG), CO_2 and CH_4 emissions from tailings ponds and mines through multi-season, long-term emissions measurements and modelling. This study assesses sensor technology to measure emissions, the modelling to determine emissions profiles for each season and variations in emissions profiles seasonally and diurnally. Multiple sensor technology, including; tunable lasers, stationary and mobile open path lasers, canister sampling, meteorological measurements, satellite sensors and flux chambers are combined to enhance the accuracy of fugitive emission profiles. Seasonal sampling for long durations provides data on the changes in emissions profiles under the annual and diurnal cycles to better quantify actual emissions. Measurements to date reveal substantive emissions rates from summer and spring measurements. Further measurements in winter, summer and fall will provide documentation of all seasons. Diurnal variation of emissions rates based on multiple source measurement methods and varying modelled emissions document that daytime emissions are higher than nighttime emissions by as much as 32%. Direct atmospheric measurements at ground level, up to 100 m using tethered instrumentation and 2700 m using SOnic Detection And Ranging (SODAR), document atmospheric boundary layers and emissions and atmospheric flux of emissions. Inverse Dispersion Modelling (IDM), with air quality models CALPUFF or Windtrax, is used to determine fugitive emission fluxes from the mine and tailings pond. Innovative technology is in development to measure real time flux emissions that use tunable laser innovation and a fiber optic based long path gas cell capable of measuring multiple gases simultaneously with a sensitivity of parts per billion to parts per trillion. This wireless system is being deployed in all seasons to collect long term emission flux data. The project is a consortium of partners including Emissions Reduction Alberta, Luxmux Technologies, RWDI, University of Alberta, University of Guelph and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Joint programs are complimentary to the study, including GHGSat, Ontario Centres of Excellence, Boreal Laser and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab. Industry partners include COSIA, PTAC, Imperial, Suncor Energy and Teck. The outcome of the project is to develop alternative measurement technology to accurately quantify fugitive GHG emissions.
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