A West Virginia University research associate professor has developed a technology to remotely monitor Marcellus shale natural gas wells with help from a research partnership supported by the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.
Michael McCawley, of WVU's Department of Community Medicine, has been testing a wireless system involving three wireless modules to measure volatile organic compounds, dust, light, and sound at a site in Washington County, Pa., where a tight shale gas well is about to be drilled.
Each module includes a radio transceiver; a 12-volt, battery-powered monitor; and a batter within a protective case, according to WVU. A 2 ft by 5 ft solar panel keeps the battery fully charged, even on cloudy days, the university said on Feb. 9. A base station module, which has a notebook-sized computer with a cell phone modem, receives data from the monitors and permits access from a desktop computer at WVU, it explained.
McCawley said that the radio transceivers, which work by line of site, can send data up to 15 miles. If there's no cell phone signal, "simply daisy-chain the radio transceivers in the base stations along ridges until you get somewhere that has [one]," he added.
The system is significant because it provides a way to monitor shale gas drilling activities in areas where terrain hinders monitoring and the lack of nearby power and telephone lines makes traditional monitoring difficult, NETL said on Feb. 10.
West Virginia alone has more than 1,400 Marcellus shale wells operating and permits issued for another 1,200, it noted.
Where it makes sense
"Now you can monitor where it makes the most sense technically. Also, because the system is so portable, it can be rapidly deployed even in emergencies," McCawley said. "The system is designed to be cheap, portable, off-the-shelf, and easy to use in a wide variety of situations."
He said he expects each module to cost about $1,200, while the monitors in them could range from "a couple of hundred dollars" to $5,000-6,000 depending on their sophistication.
NETL, which is part of DOE's Fossil Energy Office, is supporting McCawley's research through its regional university alliance. WVU is a member of an alliance consortium which also includes Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and the University of Pittsburgh.
McCawley, whose emissions monitoring experience includes oil well fires in Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War, said that quality control is essential in environmentally sound energy development.
"We need to give industry the right tools," he maintained. "Companies could monitor their sites 24-7 to detect problems early when they are easier to handle." Chevron Corp. already has expressed interest in the system, he added.
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