Safe handling of industrial gases is one of the top priorities in any plant operation, and as a result, is a well-regulated activity. Even with regulations, there are still many harmful accidents globally that have been caused due to gas leaks. For example, in 2019 a silicone manufacturing plant lacked functioning detectors and failed to detect a hydrogen gas leak, which caused an explosion that took the lives of four workers at the Illinois plant.1 In another accident in 2018, an ice factory in Malaysia had an ammonia gas leak that caused injuries and deaths.2
To prevent these tragedies, many gas detection techniques and devices have been developed for detecting and/or monitoring the leaks of hazardous gases. Soapy water tests (snoop), portable sensors (sniffers), fixed area sensors, and thermal/infrared cameras can accurately detect the presence of a leak, but they are not very helpful with identifying exact leak locations. They also tend to be reactive solutions—looking for leak locations after a problem has been identified. Examining and securing the leak location is labor-intensive, time consuming, and requires skilled employees. Outdoor applications create additional challenges due to the leaking gas concentration becoming diluted or influenced by the environment (e.g., wind), which can result in no detection, and hence, failure to identify the leak location.