SBIR Phase I: Low cost spectrometer for methane sensing

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是保护美国工人和环境免受甲烷泄漏的影响，甲烷是天然气和垃圾填埋气中的主要化学物质。在高浓度下，甲烷气体是爆炸性的，如果吸入可能是有害的或致命的。目前，甲烷泄漏检测是由熟练的技术人员使用手持传感器进行的，这是一个昂贵且劳动密集型的过程，可能不安全。该项目旨在建立低成本的监测站，使甲烷泄漏检测过程自动化，并允许远程实时监测。该项目将开发低成本监控硬件的算法，用于活跃的油气田和垃圾填埋场的典型户外环境。这项研究将提高室外甲烷泄漏检测的精密度和准确度，同时使工业负担得起，从而减少甲烷泄漏。拟议的SBIR第一阶段项目将改进算法，以改进用于甲烷排放监测的低成本和可现场部署的分光光度计的性能。该项目将开发一种无需校准即可在室外环境中自主运行的野外光谱仪。具体地说，该项目侧重于采用特定于仪器的方法，以提高准确度和精密度，并消除混杂效应。用仪器特有的小波方法改进了传统的多变量建模方法，以适应环境条件引起的仪器条件的变化。此外，还提出了物种形成方法的优化，以减少由于未知气体的存在而造成的混杂影响，并生成物种形成质量指示器。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to protect American workers and the environment from leaks of methane, the primary chemical in natural gas and landfill gas. At high concentrations, methane gas is explosive and can be harmful or fatal if inhaled. Methane leak detection is currently conducted by skilled technicians using handheld sensors, an expensive and labor-intensive process that can be unsafe. This project aims to build low-cost monitoring stations that can automate the methane leak detection process and allow remote real-time monitoring. This project will develop algorithms for low-cost monitoring hardware used in outdoor settings typical of active oil and gas fields and landfills. The research will enhance the precision and accuracy of outdoor methane leak detection while making it affordable for industry and thereby reducing methane leaks.The proposed SBIR Phase I project will advance algorithms to improve the performance of a low-cost and field-deployable spectrophotometer for methane emissions monitoring. This project will develop a field spectrometer that can operate autonomously in outdoor environments without calibration. Specifically, this project focuses on employing instrument-specific methods for accuracy and precision enhancement and for rejecting confounding effects. Classical multivariate modeling methods are improved upon with instrument-specific wavelet methods to tolerate changes in the instrument condition induced by environmental conditions. Additionally, an optimization of the speciation method is proposed to reduce confounding effects due to the presence of unknown gases and to generate a speciation quality indicator.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.