Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday December 03 2015, @06:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the now-we-can-really-see-who-farted dept.

Although methane is one of the most potent of the greenhouses gases, scientists still aren't entirely clear on all of its ground-based sources. That's why researchers from Sweden's Linköping and Stockholm universities have created a camera that's capable of imaging methane in real time. They say that it could find use in monitoring sources such as sludge deposits, combustion processes, farms and lakes.

The present prototype tips the scales at 35 kg (77 lb), and shoots both stills and video of methane. It's a hyperspectral camera, which means that it can "see" light spectra not visible to the human eye. In its case, it's tuned to image the specific type of infrared radiation that methane is known for absorbing.

While it's not the first methane-detecting camera ever made, the scientists state that it's much more sensitive than anything that has come before. This should make it ideal for detecting the gas even in relatively small amounts.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 03 2015, @02:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 03 2015, @02:17PM (#271344)

    Unless these guys are putting some kind of new spin on it this isn't exactly new technology. Search for LDAR camera or smart LDAR and you'll find some youtube videos of this in action.

    I bet it has been almost 10 years since I started seeing IR cameras used this way. The first video I saw of an LDAR camera was of someone filling their gas tank. You stand in quite a little hydrocarbon plume if you hang out right at the handle. Ever since seeing that I've always made note of wind direction and stood upwind while fueling up.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 03 2015, @04:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 03 2015, @04:07PM (#271411)

    They insert small amounts of additives to natural gas so that we can smell a gas leak but I wonder if they can insert a gas that's visible to the naked eye in small quantities as well? Something that, when burned (say you turn on the stove) is no longer as visible to the naked eye but if you leave the stove on with no flame you can see it.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 03 2015, @10:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 03 2015, @10:03PM (#271581)

      (sorry, same poster)

      Though I know that most gases are colorless and most of the ones with color are toxic and perhaps if a colorful gas that's not toxic can be created in a lab it might be expensive to make but this was just a general brainstorming idea.

      Or you can use a smoke/smog of some sort though that may clog the pipes with time.