South America’s First Direct Methane Measurement Program at a Municipal Landfill

Executive Summary

This case study demonstrates how Xplorobot’s Laser Optical Gas Imaging (Laser OGI) technology enables partners such as Scink—a Brazilian environmental technology company specializing in emissions estimation and carbon sequestration—to support methane mitigation efforts at municipal landfills. The integration of Xplorobot’s laser OGI sensors deployed on Scink’s aerial drones enabled accurate detection, precise localization, and quantification of methane emissions, supporting landfill operators in implementing targeted improvements to reduce environmental impact.

Context

The municipality of São José dos Campos aims to position itself among Brazil’s most advanced cities in addressing climate change, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. To achieve this objective, the city sought to rethink how methane gas emissions are managed within a landfill environment. This included exploring opportunities to redesign landfill infrastructure and operational processes to reduce methane off-gassing.

Challenge

The municipality’s initiative represents a significant step forward in strengthening local climate policy, positioning São José dos Campos as a pioneer in environmental practices grounded in high-precision, real-world data. To ensure the project’s success, however, the city required a technology sensitive enough to detect fugitive emissions at levels not readily identifiable by conventional methods. High-precision detection and quantification capabilities were therefore essential to achieving the project’s objectives.

Solution

Xplorobot’s laser OGI technology , mounted on Scink’s drones, was used to conduct aerial surveys for methane emissions. This approach enabled the detection, precise localization, and quantification of emission points, providing actionable insights to inform corrective landfill design. These insights supported both the mitigation of methane off-gassing and the potential capture of methane as a biogas for local electricity generation

Implementation

To support data-driven decision-making, São José dos Campos partnered with proven technologies capable of delivering high-resolution emissions data under real-world operating conditions. As part of this initiative, Xplorobot’s laser OGI technology was deployed in collaboration with Scink for a focused trial at the municipal landfill.

The project encompassed atmospheric modeling, air mass analysis, heat map generation, and flow estimation leveraging Xplorobot’s easy-to-deploy, high-precision detection and quantification platform. The resulting dataset provided clear visibility into emission sources, supporting targeted mitigation strategies and informing improvements to landfill design and operations.

Results

The study delivered critical data that enabled stakeholders to better understand how methane emissions could be reduced or more effectively controlled. By measuring actual emission quantities rather than relying on estimates, the landfill operator was able to implement targeted technical adjustments to improve energy efficiency and reduce fugitive emissions.

The project also included monitoring methane directionality and dispersion, identifying how gas moves across the site, where it may accumulate, and how emission patterns vary over time. These insights are essential for informing future planning efforts and supporting the long-term safety and well-being of the local community.

Conclusion and Future Steps

Scink’s contribution to the project, through the deployment of Xplorobot’s laser OGI technology, played a significant role in advancing São José dos Campos’ environmental objectives. The methane mapping approach developed and refined through this initiative is expected to be replicated in other communities and has the potential to serve as a national reference for landfill methane management.

Access to accurate, high-resolution emissions measurements enables meaningful operational and process improvements, while collaboration between technology providers and local governments demonstrates a scalable model for addressing complex environmental challenges. Together, these partnerships highlight how data-driven innovation can deliver practical solutions to issues once considered difficult or unattainable.

Learn more about Scink’s groundbreaking methane measurement project by reading the full announcement from the City of São José dos Campos.