Sniffer Robotics has quickly become an industry leader in the environmental technology sector. The company develops unique solutions and provides crucial emissions monitoring services to the waste, biogas, and renewable natural gas industries. Their mission is clear: to detect and mitigate methane emissions to help protect our environment.
Surface emissions monitoring (SEM) describes a method for measuring gas emissions at or near ground surfaces. The term can refer to measuring methane emissions over the surface of a landfill as waste decomposes, from buried natural gas pipelines, over covered biogas lagoons and open bodies of water such as tailing ponds, and more. Methane is 80 times more impactful than carbon dioxide on warming the planet over a 20-year period and is responsible for approximately 30% of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. Monitoring and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essential in minimizing global warming and protecting our environment.
Traditionally, emissions monitoring work is performed manually by technicians who walk across the area while carrying a handheld detector. Air samples are collected through the nozzle at the ground surface and pumped to the detector, where concentrations of the subject gas are measured. Typically, a technician will walk approximately 20 miles to inspect an average landfill for methane emissions.
Why walk when you can fly?
Sniffer has developed the SnifferDRONE™, an unmanned aerial system (UAS), to automate much of the work performed manually by field technicians. This patented technology now offers the industry an alternative to an otherwise hazardous, laborious, and subjective method of monitoring emissions and provides a safer, faster, and more effective solution.
The SnifferDRONE’s “hyper-local” solution is unique in its ability to collect air samples directly at the ground surface, measure the methane concentration within the collected air samples in parts per million (ppm), and correlate the measurements to discrete latitude/longitude coordinates during flight. This data is then transformed to provide specific leak locations that can be inspected manually and remediated to mitigate the methane emissions. The SnifferDRONE is an automation tool designed to improve the efficiency of inspection and the effectiveness of methane emissions monitoring of land-based applications. In confirming the tool’s benefits, the US EPA has approved its use for compliance for quarterly SEM inspections making it the first and only drone-based alternative to the traditional method of inspection.
Sniffer’s solutions allow sites to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions, enhance operational performance, increase revenue by capturing more gas for energy conversion, and address odors by precisely detecting gas leak sources. To date, the SnifferDRONE has been deployed in 28 states on over 150 landfills, leading to the identification of more than 16,500 leak sources.
Sniffer provides the most precise and accurate means for detecting methane emissions for land-based applications. In addition to drone surface emissions monitoring, Sniffer also offers manual SEM, aerial mapping, aerial imagery, emissions studies, landfill cover integrity studies, odor hunting, and more.
Proudly Michigan-Raised
Sniffer’s roots trace back to 2016 when Arthur Mohr, Jr founded the company with the goal of automating methane emissions monitoring in the solid waste industry across the United States. Mohr began Sniffer as a hobby and eventually left his 30-year corporate career to pursue turning his vision into reality. With the support of mentors from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and participation in Ann Arbor SPARK’s boot camp, Sniffer Robotics began its transformative journey.
Recognized as a “2023 Michigan 50 Companies to Watch” and a “Top Startups and Tech Companies to Watch in Ann Arbor in 2024” awardee, Sniffer Robotics is expanding throughout the U.S., providing local support crews while simultaneously building support staff in Michigan. Sniffer has also received interest in their technology beyond the U.S. borders and is considering international expansion. Mohr says Sniffer Robotics is excited to use the great state of Michigan as a platform for their business to create a national, and potentially international, positive environmental impact.
