Detection of interstate liquids pipeline leaks: Feasibility evaluation

The approximately 200,000-mile fuel pipeline system in the US operates at flow rates up to 2.5 {times} 10{sup 6} gallons per hour (GPH). Most commercial technologies only provide on-line leak detection at about 0.3% of flow rate, i.e., about 7,500 GPH or larger. Detection of leaks at about 1 GPH or so is desirable both from a regulatory and leak-prevention standpoint. Brookhaven`s commercially-accepted perfluorocarbon tracer (PFT) technology for underground leak detection of utility industry dielectric fluids at leak rates less than 0.1 GPH, with new enhancements, will be able to cost-effectively detect fuel pipeline system leaks to about 1 GPH--3 orders-of-magnitude better than any on-line system. The magnitude of detected leaks would be calculable as well. Proposed mobile surveys (such as those used periodically in the gas pipeline industry) at about 110 to 120 miles per day would allow such small leaks to be detected at 10-ppb tagging levels (less than $1,500 of PFT for a 48-hour tag at the maximum transport rate) under worst-case meteorological dispersion conditions. Smaller leaks could be detected by proportionately larger tagging concentrations. Leaks would be pinpointed by subsequent conventional barholing and vapor analyses. There are no health nor safety issues associated with the use of the proposed technological approach nor any consequential environmental impacts associated with the proposed magnitudes of PFT tagging

Aerosol concentration and size distribution measured below, in, and above cloud from the DOE G-1 during VOCALS-REx

During the VOCALS Regional Experiment, the DOE G-1 aircraft was used to sample a varying aerosol environment pertinent to properties of stratocumulus clouds over a longitude band extending 800 km west from the Chilean coast at Arica. Trace gas and aerosol measurements are presented as a function of longitude, altitude, and dew point in this study. Spatial distributions are consistent with an upper atmospheric source for O<sub>3</sub> and South American coastal sources for marine boundary layer (MBL) CO and aerosol, most of which is acidic sulfate. Pollutant layers in the free troposphere (FT) can be a result of emissions to the north in Peru or long range transport from the west. At a given altitude in the FT (up to 3 km), dew point varies by 40 °C with dry air descending from the upper atmospheric and moist air having a boundary layer (BL) contribution. Ascent of BL air to a cold high altitude results in the condensation and precipitation removal of all but a few percent of BL water along with aerosol that served as CCN. Thus, aerosol volume decreases with dew point in the FT. Aerosol size spectra have a bimodal structure in the MBL and an intermediate diameter unimodal distribution in the FT. Comparing cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) and pre-cloud aerosol (<i>D</i><sub><i>p</i></sub>>100 nm) gives a linear relation up to a number concentration of ~150 cm<sup>−3</sup>, followed by a less than proportional increase in CDNC at higher aerosol number concentration. A number balance between below cloud aerosol and cloud droplets indicates that ~25 % of aerosol with <i>D</i><sub><i>p</i></sub>>100 nm are interstitial (not activated). A direct comparison of pre-cloud and in-cloud aerosol yields a higher estimate. Artifacts in the measurement of interstitial aerosol due to droplet shatter and evaporation are discussed. Within each of 102 constant altitude cloud transects, CDNC and interstitial aerosol were anti-correlated. An examination of one cloud as a case study shows that the interstitial aerosol appears to have a background, upon which is superimposed a high frequency signal that contains the anti-correlation. The anti-correlation is a possible source of information on particle activation or evaporation

Aerosol concentration and size distribution measured below, in, and above cloud from the DOE G-1 during VOCALS-REx

During the VOCALS Regional Experiment, the DOE G-1 aircraft was used to sample a varying aerosol environment pertinent to properties of stratocumulus clouds over a longitude band extending 800 km west from the Chilean coast at Arica. Trace gas and aerosol measurements are presented as a function of longitude, altitude, and dew point in this study. Spatial distributions are consistent with an upper atmospheric source for O<sub>3</sub> and South American coastal sources for marine boundary layer (MBL) CO and aerosol, most of which is acidic sulfate. Pollutant layers in the free troposphere (FT) can be a result of emissions to the north in Peru or long range transport from the west. At a given altitude in the FT (up to 3 km), dew point varies by 40 °C with dry air descending from the upper atmospheric and moist air having a boundary layer (BL) contribution. Ascent of BL air to a cold high altitude results in the condensation and precipitation removal of all but a few percent of BL water along with aerosol that served as CCN. Thus, aerosol volume decreases with dew point in the FT. Aerosol size spectra have a bimodal structure in the MBL and an intermediate diameter unimodal distribution in the FT. Comparing cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) and pre-cloud aerosol (<i>D</i><sub><i>p</i></sub>>100 nm) gives a linear relation up to a number concentration of ~150 cm<sup>−3</sup>, followed by a less than proportional increase in CDNC at higher aerosol number concentration. A number balance between below cloud aerosol and cloud droplets indicates that ~25 % of aerosol with <i>D</i><sub><i>p</i></sub>>100 nm are interstitial (not activated). A direct comparison of pre-cloud and in-cloud aerosol yields a higher estimate. Artifacts in the measurement of interstitial aerosol due to droplet shatter and evaporation are discussed. Within each of 102 constant altitude cloud transects, CDNC and interstitial aerosol were anti-correlated. An examination of one cloud as a case study shows that the interstitial aerosol appears to have a background, upon which is superimposed a high frequency signal that contains the anti-correlation. The anti-correlation is a possible source of information on particle activation or evaporation

The time evolution of aerosol composition over the Mexico City plateau

International audienceThe time evolution of aerosol concentration and chemical composition in a megacity urban plume was determined based on 8 flights of the DOE G-1 aircraft in and downwind of Mexico City during the March 2006 MILAGRO field campaign. A series of selection criteria are imposed to eliminate data points with non-urban emission influences. Biomass burning has urban and non-urban sources that are distinguished on the basis of CH3CN and CO. In order to account for dilution in the urban plume, aerosol concentrations are normalized to CO which is taken as an inert tracer of urban emission, proportional to the emissions of aerosol precursors. Time evolution is determined with respect to photochemical age defined as ?Log10 (NOx/NOy). The geographic distribution of photochemical age and CO is examined, confirming the picture that Mexico City is a source region and that pollutants become more dilute and aged as they are advected towards T1 and T2, surface sites that are located at the fringe of the City and 35 km to the NE, respectively. Organic aerosol (OA) per ppm CO is found to increase 7 fold over the range of photochemical ages studied, corresponding to a change in NOx/NOy from nearly 100% to 10%. In the older samples the nitrate/CO ratio has leveled off suggesting that evaporation and formation of aerosol nitrate are in balance. In contrast, OA/CO increases with age in older samples, indicating that OA is still being formed. The amount of carbon equivalent to the deduced change in OA/CO with age is 56 ppbC per ppm CO. At an aerosol yield of 5% and 8% for low and high yield aromatic compounds, it is estimated from surface hydrocarbon observations that only ~9% of the OA formation can be accounted for. A comparison of OA/CO in Mexico City and the eastern U.S. gives no evidence that aerosol yields are higher in a more polluted environment

Overview of the 2010 Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES)

Substantial uncertainties still exist in the scientific understanding of the possible interactions between urban and natural (biogenic) emissions in the production and transformation of atmospheric aerosol and the resulting impact on climate change. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study (CARES) carried out in June 2010 in Central Valley, California, was a comprehensive effort designed to improve this understanding. The primary objective of the field study was to investigate the evolution of secondary organic and black carbon aerosols and their climate-related properties in the Sacramento urban plume as it was routinely transported into the forested Sierra Nevada foothills area. Urban aerosols and trace gases experienced significant physical and chemical transformations as they mixed with the reactive biogenic hydrocarbons emitted from the forest. Two heavily-instrumented ground sites – one within the Sacramento urban area and another about 40 km to the northeast in the foothills area – were set up to characterize the evolution of meteorological variables, trace gases, aerosol precursors, aerosol size, composition, and climate-related properties in freshly polluted and "aged" urban air. On selected days, the DOE G-1 aircraft was deployed to make similar measurements upwind and across the evolving Sacramento plume in the morning and again in the afternoon. The NASA B-200 aircraft, carrying remote sensing instruments, was also deployed to characterize the vertical and horizontal distribution of aerosols and aerosol optical properties within and around the plume. This overview provides: (a) the scientific background and motivation for the study, (b) the operational and logistical information pertinent to the execution of the study, (c) an overview of key observations and initial findings from the aircraft and ground-based sampling platforms, and (d) a roadmap of planned data analyses and focused modeling efforts that will facilitate the integration of new knowledge into improved representations of key aerosol processes and properties in climate models.United States. Dept. of Energy. Atmospheric System Research Program (Contract DE-AC06-76RLO 1830)United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationUnited States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. HQ Science Mission Directorate Radiation Sciences ProgramUnited States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. CALIPSO ProgramUnited States. Dept. of Energy. Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (Interagency Agreement No. DE-AI02-05ER63985

LASER FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY AND LIFETIME OF THE 2B1^{2}B_{1} (K′>0K' > 0) ELECTRONIC STATE OF NO2NO_{2}

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, State University of New YorkFluorescence of $NO_{2}$ excited by He-Cd 442 nm laser radiation is found to exhibit a spectrum characteristic of perpendicular transitions from several levels belonging to the $^{2}B_{1}$ vibronic state with $K^{\prime}>0$. The lifetimes of these levels are substantially greater than those given previously for $K^{\prime}$ = 0 levels of the $^{2}B_{1}$ state. The present results support the mechanism of lifetime lengthening by the Renner interaction of the $^{2}B_{1}$ and $^{2}A_{1}$ components of the linear $^{2}\Pi_{u}$

Final Report of the Evaluation of Vapor Taggants and Substrates for the Tagging of Blasting Caps.

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FINAL REPORT OF THE EVALUATION OF VAPOR TAGGANTS AND SUBSTRATES FOR THE TAGGING OF BLASTING CAPS.

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Effect of taggant vapor adsorption and containment on the pedetonation detection of explosives

Predetonation detection of explosives in realistic scenarios may be accomplished by detecting vapors emitted by the explosive. These vapors could be either the vapor emitted from the inherent compounds present in the explosive or the vapor emitted by a specific vapor taggant introduced into the explosive at the time of manufacture. The emitted vapor concentration in various detection scenarios can be diminished either by vapor adsorption onto adsorptive surfaces present in the scenario, e.g., clothing, curtains, rugs etc., or by enclosing the explosive in a relatively airtight enclosure, e.g., box, luggage, etc., which will impede the vapor emission into the detection scenario. These two effects are modeled to ascertain the magnitude of the vapor concentration reduction in various scenarios. Experiments have been performed to provide a necessary input parameter for the containment model and to confirm the predictions of the model. Seven potential vapor taggants were experimentally examined for their vapor concentration depletion by adsorption in a typical scenario. The potential vapor taggants are perfluorodimethylcyclobutane (PDCB), perfluoromethylcyclohexane (PMCH), perfluorodimethylcyclohexane (PDCH), perfluorodecalin (PFD), L-4412 (a 3M Company proprietary compound), decafluorobiphenyl (DFBP), octafluoronaphtalene (OFN), and octafluorotoluene (OFT). Six enclosures were examined experimentally for their ability to contain taggant vapors. Of these, a box filled with styrofoam packing, a suitcase, a heat sealed polyethylene bag, and an attache case provided no significant impediment to the release of the vapor taggant into the detection scenario, i.e., these enclosures had a negligible degree of airtightness. The remaining two examined enclosures, a paint can and a zip lock plastic bag, showed significant vapor containment and thus possibly could hinder the vapor detection of explosives which are placed in these enclosures

Petroleum characterization by perfluorocarbon tracers

Perfluorocarbon tracers (PFTs), a class of six compounds, were used to help characterize the Shallow Oil Zone (SOZ) reservoir at the Naval Petroleum Reserve in California (NPRC) at Elk Hills. The SOZ reservoir is undergoing a pilot gas injection program to assess the technical feasibility and economic viability of injecting gas into the SOZ for improved oil recovery. PFTs were utilized in the pilot gas injection to qualitatively assess the extent of the pilot gas injection so as to determine the degree of gas containment within the SOZ reservoir