Measurements of fugitive emissions using the solar occultation flux method

Paper in proceeding, 2015

The Solar Occultation Flux Method (SOF) is a relatively new optical remote sensing technique for quantifying fugitive VOC emissions from industrial sources. In Europe, the SOF technique is Best Available Technology for measurements of fugitive emission of VOC from refineries and it is presently being standardized within CEN together with several other optical methods. The method is used to screen all larger Swedish refineries and petrochemical. The measurements provide the total emission coming from the whole refinery (the bubble), divided into sub parts, e.g., process areas, crude oil storage, product storage tanks, water treatment facilities, flares, and loading operations. The estimated uncertainty for the emissions is 30 % for the bubble, and higher for the individual parts. The measurements often show higher emissions than reported by 3-10 times.