ON-WATER LIQUID LEAK DETECTION TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION

The pipeline industry is directing their efforts toward reducing the environmental impact of their operations, improving pipeline performance, preventing and minimizing releases, and addressing evolving regulatory requirements. One key type of technology that helps with these efforts is related to detecting the presence of liquid hydrocarbons on the surface of water, either inside facilities or when crossing waterbodies. C-FER Technologies (1999) Inc. ("C-FER"), under contract to Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) and in partnership with various pipeline operators, has completed a comprehensive research project to help operators assess the performance of various external leak detection technologies when identifying the presence of liquid hydrocarbon products on the surface of water in a controlled lab environment. Some of these results are presented in this paper.