Performance Assessment of the Earthview BluBird Continuous Emission Monitoring System for Oil and Gas Facility Emissions Monitoring

The Earthview BluBird continuous methane emissions monitoring system participated in single-blind controlled-release testing in 2022 and 2024, with the goal of evaluating the leak detection and quantification capabilities of these metal-oxide point sensors under realistic field conditions. The METEC ADED test program consisted of natural-gas releases (“experiments”) at a simulated gas production facility, with each experiment comprising up to five simultaneous releases from different locations. Here, we analyze the results according to the detection of at least one release per experiment (“per experiment” detection) and the detection of all releases. Using METEC’s standard grading criteria, 91% of ADED 2024 experiments were detected; a substantial improvement compared to the 2022 results. Undetected releases during multi-release experiments, rather than undetected experiments, account for the large majority of missed releases. Detection correlated more strongly with release duration than with release rate. Detection rates and probability of detection improve when alternative classification criteria are applied. Sources were correctly identified at the equipment group level for 75% of single-release experiments. Actual and estimated methane-emission mass summed over daily to monthly intervals correlate significantly, with BluBird underestimating mass by 36% for single-release experiments. This underestimate is dominated by emission rate error rather than release detection capability.