Success Stories

HGI Leak Detection Success Stories – Dow Chemical

DOW Chemical Success:

Success Stories_ Leak Location

Following repairs the leak rate decreased from 60 gpm to 0 gpm. HGI was requested to survey an adjacent pond; following leak location identification and repair, the leak rate in this pond decreased from 45 gpm to 0 gpm.

Problem:  60 gallon per minute leak between liners in a storage pond.

HGI’s leak detection work at a Dow chemical plat is a great example of one of many leak location success stories…  Another company initially surveyed the Dow Chemical pond with up to six people in the pond listening for leaks.  Seventeen leak locations were provided to DOW for repair.  Following repairs, leak rates did not decrease from the initially observed 60 gallons per minute (gpm).  The same company surveyed the pond for a second time, but  the pond leak  rate remained the same after repairs were made.

HGI’s Solution: Perform an electrical resistivity survey using multiple sensor arrays. 

Two HGI field geophysicists completed the survey without ever having to enter the pond.  At the successful completion of HGI’s survey, three leak locations were provided to DOW for repair.  After repairs the leak rate decreased from 60 gpm to 0 gpm. Following this success, HGI was  requested to survey an adjacent pond; following leak location identification and repair, the leak rate in this pond decreased from 45 gpm  to 0 gpm.

HGI Leak Detection Success Stories – Hanford Tank Farms

Problem: A monitoring system was needed to alert for leaks during containment, treatment, and retrieval of high-level mixed radioactive waste stored in single and double shelled steel tanks.

Leak Detection & Monitoring diagram

Leak Detection & Monitoring diagram of the HGI leak detection & monitoring system.

The Department of Energy (DOE) oversees the containment, treatment, and retrieval of high-level mixed radioactive waste at the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington State.  Single-shelled & double-shelled tanks provide temporary storage before final treatment.  Monitoring tanks before and during the retrieval processes is critical.

HGI’s Solution: HGI’s automated data acquisition system (DAS) provides near real-time monitoring of tanks using electrical geophysics and LDM AutoPro and AutoView Software for 24/7 web-based system status monitoring.

HGI’s electrical geophysics monitoring program has been in place since 2004, covering multiple storage tanks and tank farms on the Hanford Nuclear Site.  The monitoring program takes advantage of changes in electrical resistivity that will occur should a tank leak.  HGI went through a rigorous testing and competition phase before earning the opportunity to provide leak detection monitoring at the Hanford Nuclear Site.

 Why did HGI win out at Hanford for leak detection and monitoring?

 The themes of the field study (contest) were:

  • Efficiency / Simplicity
  • Ability to use available infrastructure
  • Cost Effectiveness

HGI competed against several national laboratories at a mock tank on the Hanford Nuclear Site. Based on the criteria set forward, HGI was awarded 1st place by the tri-party agreement comprised of the EPA, DOE, and WA State Ecology Department.  During fiscal year 2006, a geophysical investigation was performed at the S Tank Farm to demonstrate the use of electrical resistivity methods to locate and map liquid injected into the tank farm vadose zone as a part of a simulated storage tank leak and to identify and map regions impacted by past leaks and spills.  The main purpose of the injection was to test the capabilities of the HGI High Resolution Resistivity – Leak Detection and Monitoring (HRR-LDM) method for leak detection and leak quantification within a single-shell tank farm.  The leak injection test consisted of a series of 10 injections where a conductive fluid was discharged into the subsurface using a well near one of the storage tanks.  The HGI HRR-LDM system was used to monitor the changes of electrical properties in the subsurface.  During this blind test, HGI was able to successfully determine when the “leak” event was turned on and off and quantify both leak rate and volume.

 LDM Proof of Concept and LDM Injection Test

  • Quantified leak detection in a tank farm
  • Quantified leak rate /volume in a tank farm
  • Improved leak detection monitoring method of geophysical well logging .
  • Selected as best available technology “Inside Tank Farm”

 

Success Stories Leak Test

Leak Detection & Monitoring leak test data

Example leak event from Proof of Concept and LDM Injection Test