Project
Esdim
Cloud-based data intelligence platform to detect and monitor fugitive emissions from contaminated sites
The purpose
Detect and monitor fugitive emissions (liquid and gaseous) originating from landfill and brownfield sites, using space, and ground integrated-data.
Providing a more in-depth understanding of the potential risks associated with the sites and their impacts on surrounding areas enabling better management of the risks.
This will help in achieving the project’s overall goal of a positive impact on climate change, air quality, human health, and the environment.
The Problem
Areas of undeveloped land are becoming less accessible for developers
As a result, the EU and UK are prioritising the recycling of previously developed land to deliver housing opportunities and support economic growth. This will include remediating contaminated sites.
Across Europe, there are around 2.8 million potentially contaminated sites, of which 390 000 are expected to require remediation
However, they can be expensive to remediate. Opportunities for development can be missed if the environmental risk and contamination are not properly evaluated.
Like contaminated sites, infilled sites are portions of land filled-in with waste from nearby land uses. It is usually difficult to determine the exact contents of a potential landfill. This is problematic as the contents may be a danger to human life and the environment, which could in turn give rise to regulatory and third-party liabilities for responsible parties.
To mitigate these risks and put such sites to new use, more robust screening of the pollution sources is needed
Currently, stakeholders buy reports to screen the environmental risks of land they want to buy/develop. These reports are based on ground data alone meaning they only provide a partial picture of risks. The use of such reports could result in a potential mismatch between how a site is perceived and its real environmental risk, and vice versa.
Looking at landfills, modern (sanitary) landfills in the UK and across Europe capture and use much of the landfill gas (methane and CO2) produced, but some is still emitted to the atmosphere. However, the precise amount of methane arising from landfills remains highly uncertain as the available methane data is largely based on generic emissions factor-based calculations, which have been proven to dramatically underestimate measured methane emissions levels. Also, fugitive emissions can cause changes of vegetation condition and stress in the surrounding areas.
So, the information currently available is either too vague or extremely expensive. This is a significant barrier to development of the above mentioned sites or to improve management of landfill sites.
The Solution
A cloud-based data intelligence platform incorporating low-cost, high-frequency and multi-source environmental data (satellite and ground).
The platform is based on machine learning technologies to monitor the impacts of gaseous and liquid emissions from landfills, contaminated and similar sites.
It will offer two different layers of solutions to potential customers:
Level 1: Modelling and screening solution
This level will provide a wider understanding of the environmental risks associated with a landfill/contaminated site based on recent and historical data
Level 2: Monitoring solution
This level will leverage machine learning methodologies to automate data analysis and provide frequent data on the risk’s dynamics over time, to improve compliance
