Stack Emissions

About this solution

The AI locates the stack (or exhaust) and the smoke coming out of it, cuts out the exact outline of the plume and analyzes its color palette. Smoke color indicates combustion quality and what is being burned: white is usually just water vapor; dark gray and black indicate incomplete combustion (soot); bluish, burning oil; yellowish or brown, a sign of sulfur or NO₂. Darkness is measured on the Ringelmann scale, the same one used by environmental inspectors.

1. 1Text-prompted segmentation (CLIPSeg): in every frame the AI marks where there is smoke or vapor — without specific training.
2. 2Text-prompted detection (OWLv2) locates the stacks or exhausts and discards similar structures (distillation towers, plant buildings); the minimum confidence is adjustable.
3. 3The plume outline (not a box) is used in the analysis, so sky, buildings and the stack itself do not contaminate the colors.
4. 4Plume colors are grouped into the 4 dominant colors (k-means in CIELab space) and each is classified into a shade.
5. 5Darkness = how close the smoke is to black (0% = white, 100% = black). Ringelmann scale = darkness ÷ 20 (levels 0 to 5).
6. 6Each stack is analyzed separately (the smoke right above it; flare flames are excluded from color analysis). The indicators show the worst stack.
7. 7Persistent dark smoke (from the configured Ringelmann level) or abnormal coloring triggers an alert identifying the stack, with an image of the moment.