Avitas, a Baker Hughes business, has been awarded a contract from renewable energy operator Roeslein Alternative Energy (RAE) to provide continuous methane emissions monitoring at its 22 biogas lagoons in Missouri. (Photo quoted from Avitas's website)

The expanded contract, which was booked in the first quarter of 2021, follows a successful pilot test as part of RAE’s program to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) production from agricultural waste. 

Avitas will install its LUMEN™ Terrain methane emissions monitoring technology at the additional 18 RAE sites over the next two months and expects the overall system to be fully operational by the end of the summer. 

The LUMEN Terrain platform uses advanced sensor and AI technology to detect leaks from geotextile tarps covering RAE’s lagoons that capture biogas emitted from animal waste through the natural process of anaerobic digestion. Data received through continuous monitoring is processed in the cloud and sent to a computer dashboard to notify RAE teams of action needed to address methane emissions.

In addition to LUMEN Terrain – which utilizes ground-based sensors to collect methane emissions data on a continuous basis – LUMEN Sky collects methane emissions data through unmanned aerial vehicles that can survey about 500 acres in 15 minutes, potentially visiting 30 to 50 sites a day, and can catch leaks as small as 2 standard cubic feet per hour.  

LUMEN’s ability to apply advanced machine learning and computer vision analytics to localize and quantify site emissions levels allows customers to be immediately equipped with actionable information and an auditable means of demonstrating their methane reductions.

(IRuniverse)