Near Real-Time Ground-to-Ground Infrared Remote-Sensing Combination and Inexpensive Visible Camera Observations Applied to Tomographic Stack Emission Measurements.

Evaluation of the environmental impact of gas plumes from stack emissions at the local level requires precise knowledge of the spatial development of the cloud, its evolution over time, and quantitative analysis of each gaseous component. With extensive developments, remote-sensing ground-based technologies are becoming increasingly relevant to such an application. The difficulty of determining the exact 3-D thickness of the gas plume in real time has meant that the various gas components are mainly expressed using correlation coefficients of gas occurrences and path concentration (ppm.m). This paper focuses on a synchronous and non-expensive multi-angled approach combining three high-resolution visible cameras (GoPro-Hero3) and a scanning infrared (IR) gas system (SIGIS, Bruker). Measurements are performed at a NH3 emissive industrial site (NOVACARB Society, Laneuveville-devant-Nancy, France). Visible data images were processed by a first geometrical reconstruction gOcad® protocol to build a 3-D envelope of the gas plume which allows estimation of the plume’s thickness corresponding to the 2-D infrared grid measurements. NH3 concentration data could thereby be expressed in ppm and have been interpolated using a second gOcad® interpolation algorithm allowing a precise volume visualization of the NH3 distribution in the flue gas steam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]