SBIR Phase I: Process Control Trace Oxygen Sensor using Nanomaterials

这个小型企业技术转让一期项目将开发一种过程控制氧传感器，适用于石化生产、石油和天然气精炼以及发电锅炉系统中的恶劣条件。提出的基于纳米材料的传感器刺激并监测单线态分子氧的红外发射，在高温下，在强溶剂、腐蚀性酸和易燃混合物存在的情况下，测量氧浓度到ppb水平。这是一种长期已知的现象的新应用，到目前为止，这种现象几乎只用于生物医学应用。与其他光学氧传感器不同，该方法适合于痕量分析，因为测量信号与氧浓度成正比。痕迹测量可以在“零背景”下精确地进行。测量和控制氧气对于工业过程的有效运行至关重要，包括：石油化工产品的生产，石油精炼，塑料和聚合物材料的制造，半导体加工，陶瓷，气体分离。在美国，这些价值数十亿美元的产业的竞争力依赖于生产效率、成本节约、产品产量和质量的持续改进。商业上可用的过程氧传感器的创新和改进已经落后于潜在的应用。

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will to develop a process-control oxygen sensor suitable for harsh conditions present in petrochemical production, oil and gas refining, and boiler systems for power generation. The proposed nanomaterial-based sensor stimulates and then monitors the infrared emission of singlet molecular oxygen to measure oxygen concentration to ppb levels in the presence of strong solvents, corrosive acids and flammable mixtures at elevated temperatures. This is a novel application of a long known phenomena that heretofore has been almost exclusively used in biomedical applications. Unlike other optical oxygen sensors, the proposed method is suited to trace analysis since the measured signal is directly proportional to oxygen concentration. Trace measurements can be accurately made against a "zero background." Measurement and control of oxygen is crucial for efficient operation of industrial processes including: production of petrochemicals, petroleum refining, plastic and polymer materials manufacture, semiconductors processing, ceramics, gas separation. The competitiveness of the these multi-billion dollar industries in the US relies on continued process improvements of production efficiency, cost savings, product yield and quality. Innovations and improvements in commercially available process oxygen sensors have lagged the potential applications.