Project OPTEX: Field study at a petrochemical facility to assess optical remote sensing and dispersion modeling techniques

The American Petroleum Inst. has conducted a field study at a petrochemical facility for the purpose of (1) testing the ability of optical remote sensing (ORS) techniques to characterize fugitive emissions, and (2) assembling ambient and tracer sampler data for evaluating air dispersion models. The study, referred to as the OPTEX (Operational Petrochemical Tracer Experiment) Project, took place during October 1996 at a Texas petrochemical facility. This paper reports on the design of the field study and summarizes the measurements that were obtained in the field. Several aspects of the field study are described in the paper: the types and locations of the emission releases and tracer gases that were used, the deployment of tracer samplers at various downwind distances, the use of open-path FTIR (OP-FTIR) equipment at the site to quantify tracer gas emissions, special short-term tracer gas emissions designed to test the ability of the ORS systems to detect accidental releases, and the use of a Doppler sodar to evaluate vertical profiles of wind and turbulence upwind and downwind of the facility. The data base for this study, as well as that from an earlier field study that took place at the Duke Forest green field site inmore » North Carolina, will be used for evaluating air dispersion model performance and the ability of ORS measurements to quantify fugitive emissions.« less