Drones identify methane emissions in UK landfills

THE UK’s Environment Agency has trialled drones in detecting and identifying methane emissions in landfills, a practice currently undertaken by humans.

The trial investigated whether unmanned aerial vehicles could make up for the limitations of walkover surveys.

Walkovers are highly effective but can also be time consuming and energy intensive, and expose workers to hazards.

Methane emissions are currently responsible for 30% of the rise in global temperatures, and landfill waste is composed of around 50% methane and 50% CO2.

Emissions also have a direct impact on human health, contributing to ground-level ozone and pollution that can worsen respiratory health and increase the risk of strokes.

Drone benefits

In the trial, drones and human workers assessed the same three landfill areas, two active and one closed.

The drones used downward pointing open-path tuneable diode absorption spectroscopy (OP-TDLAS) for detecting methane emissions, which the EA concluded would be a “satisfactory replacement” for walkovers.

Despite the potential of the drones, the EA found that walkovers were still more precise in methane identification.

However, the trial showed that drones were faster in assessing the landfills and with more research could be better at identifying false positive methane emissions than humans.

The EA is now looking at further trials in which drones and workers will work together for emission assessments, with wider use of drones to detect other landfill emissions.