SBIR Phase I: Development of an Affordable and Versatile Spectral Induced Polarization (SIP) Borehole Tool

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一种频域频谱诱导极化（SIP）井眼工具的原型，该工具可用于在井眼中以高精度/高分辨率收集宽频率范围内的数据。SIP技术是一项新兴的地球物理技术，可提供现有地球物理测井工具无法提供的关于多孔介质物理、化学和生物地球化学特征的独特信息。对这种工具的需要是公认的，特别是在石油、采矿和环境工业中，但是技术限制和经济限制以前阻碍了该技术的商业化。该公司将设计和测试井眼SIP工具，以克服已知的技术问题。仪器仪表的最新进展，包括所需电子设备的尺寸和功率要求，现在允许构建这样一种工具，以负担得起的成本提供所需的功能。这将通过在实验室环境中通过测量具有已知SIP特性的材料并与台式SIP仪器进行比较来确定原型工具的性能来证明。该工具还将在一个实验储罐中进行测试，该储罐旨在根据现场部署模拟井眼。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是通过井眼测井测量获得关于地下物理、化学和生物地球化学性质变化的新的和更精确的信息。该项目是对勘探、水资源和环境行业公认的需求的回应，即提高地球物理化学性质变化的分辨率，而不是从现有的钻孔测井工具中提取的变化。这一创新工具的应用将包括表征新的信息参数，以及检测和监测迄今为止仅在实验室环境中表征的地球化学和生物地球化学过程。该公司是一家合格的小企业，将扩大其客户群，合作学术机构的教师和学生都将能够利用该工具提高他们的环境研究能力。这是一所州立大学与当地小企业之间的新合作，将加强促进产学研合作的努力。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop a prototype of a frequency domain spectral induced polarization (SIP) borehole tool that could be used to collect data in boreholes over a wide frequency range with high accuracy/resolution. The SIP technique is an emerging geophysical technology that offers unique information on the physical, chemical and biogeochemical characteristics of porous media not provided by existing geophysical logging tools. The need for such a tool is well recognized, especially in the oil, mining and environmental industries, but technical constraints and economical limitations have previously prevented the technology from being commercialized. The company will design and test a borehole SIP tool to overcome the perceived technical problems. Recent advances in instrumentation, including size and power requirements of the needed electronics, now allow for the construction of such a tool that can offer the required capabilities at an affordable cost. This will be demonstrated by determining the performance of the prototype tool in a laboratory setting by making measurements on materials with known SIP characteristics and by comparisons with bench-top SIP instruments. The tool will also be tested in an experimental tank designed to simulate a borehole as per the perceived field deployment.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be the availability of new and more precise information on the variation of the physical, chemical and biogeochemical properties of the subsurface to be obtained from logging measurements in a borehole. This project is a response to a recognized need in the exploration, water resources and environmental industries for improved resolution of variations in the physicochemical properties of the earth relative to that extractable from existing borehole logging tools. The applications of this innovative tool will include the characterization of new information parameters and the detection and monitoring of geochemical and biogeochemical processes only characterized until now in laboratory settings. The company, a qualifying small business, will broaden their customer base, and both faculty and students at the partner academic institution will be able to utilize the tool to enhance their capabilities for environmental research. This new collaboration between a state university and a local small business will strengthen efforts to promote collaborations between industry and academia.