Daniel Bon presents “Mobile Lab Monitoring of VOCs near suburban Oil Drilling Sites in Colorado” on Friday, February 21th, 2020 at 3:30 p.m. in Anderson Hall 329.
Oil and Gas is a major contributor to Colorado’s economy. However,
when development occurs at or near setback limits (500’) to existing
houses, citizens often report health effects. The Colorado Air
Pollution Control Division (APCD) at the Colorado Department of Public
Health and Environment (CDPHE) built a mobile lab to respond to oil
and gas related health concerns. The Colorado Air Monitoring Mobile
Laboratory (CAMML) , is equipped with a thermal desorption gas
chromatography mass spectrometer and dual flame ionization detectors
and instruments to measure ozone, oxides of nitrogen, and greenhouse
gases, among others. The CAMML has been deployed to locations <1000
feet from active oil drilling operations along the Front Range of
Colorado. The lab is typically sited between housing developments and
an active drilling site for a period of about 4 weeks during each
phase of development. VOCs are measured hourly, using 45 minute,
constant flow, integrated collection on a cold sorbent trap.
Quantitation of peaks are done using the open-source TERN software,
which performs peak fitting rather than traditional integration.
Mixing ratios are compared to health guidelines developed by CDPHE and
recently published in the International Journal of Environmental
Research and Public Health.