Grants and Contributions:

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Title:

Improved polymer absorption sensors for oil detection

Agreement Number:

EGP

Agreement Value:

$25,000.00

Agreement Date:

Feb 7, 2018 -

Organization:

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Location:

British Columbia, CA

Reference Number:

GC-2017-Q4-01825

Agreement Type:

Grant

Report Type:

Grants and Contributions

Additional Information:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Recipient's Legal Name:

van Veggel, Frank (University of Victoria)

Program:

Engage Grants for universities

Program Purpose:

Syscor co. has embarked on an ambitious R&D programme to develop sensor systems to monitor early stagex000D
leaks of pipelines for the transport of (crude) oil and natural gas. Early detection allows for timely intervention,x000D
so that remediation is easy and cheap. Syscor's technology is based on the Polymer Absorption Sensor (PAS)x000D
and they have shown proof-of-principle and have a patent on the technology. The PAS is a sensor where, uponx000D
sorption of specific chemicals, there is a physical change in sensor, i.e. the polymer swells because of uptake ofx000D
a volatile hydrocarbon, resulting in corresponding change in sensor resistivity. A PAS is generally comprised ofx000D
a base elastomeric polymer film, which selectively adsorb target hydrocarbons, and a distribution of conductivex000D
particles (e.g. one or more metallic or carbon-based particles) to enhance the response changes in the resistancex000D
of the polymer film. However, for commercial viability there remain some outstanding issues, such asx000D
sensitivity, reversibility, cross-sensitivity and fabrication reproducibility. The sensitivity has to be increased,x000D
especially for the least volatile compounds, so that leaks can be detected at the earliest possible time. Thex000D
reversibility of the sensors has to be improved because baseline drift makes the data processing unnecessarilyx000D
complicated and over time potentially unreliable, but more importantly diminishes the earliest possiblex000D
detection. Cross-sensitivity of a sensor refers to PAS response to a confounding environmental condition (e.g.x000D
time-varying fluctuations in temperature and /or water saturation), which interferes with reliable measurements.x000D
The cross-sensitivity of PASs has to be mitigated for acquiring readily interpretable data. Reproducibility of thex000D
fabrication process is an obvious requirement for a commercial application, but not part of the goals of thisx000D
proposal.