Quantitative multi-species hydrocarbon metrology in gas pipelines -- enhancing commercialization potential by extension to new laser wavelengths

项目简介：准确监测储层中天然气的成分和流速，对于开采公司量化油气田产量至关重要。我们的新项目“天然气管道中定量多组分碳氢化合物计量”（ST/T000635/1）确定了将宽带、高分辨率中红外光谱集成到传统气体流量计中的首个市场系统的机会。该项目得到了工业合作伙伴GM Flow有限公司（干气计量领域的领导者）和Chromacity有限公司（可调谐激光制造商）40万英镑的直接和实物捐款的支持，并寻求使用预先存在的3 - 4um激光器的光纤传输光来量化从生产储层通过管道输送的气态烷烃的丰度。该项目方法利用高分辨率傅里叶变换激光光谱和创新的基线提取算法，两者都来自于早期的STFC项目（ST/P00699X/1），该项目最近获得了专利申请和期刊论文。宽带中红外光是由扫描迈克尔逊干涉仪作为一个高分辨率的傅里叶变换光谱仪调制。这种光然后是光纤耦合，并用于询问气体取样到计量单元在流量计。我们独特的算法用于提取存在的多种气体的浓度。Heriot-Watt将管理该项目，并负责与多品种气体光谱仪相关的硬件和软件开发，并将与以下三个合作伙伴合作：* GM Flow为“干气”市场制造流量计，并将设计一个集成模块，该模块独特地允许在流量计上进行原位气体成分采样和光谱分析。* Chromacity是HWU的一个衍生产品，生产近至中红外飞秒激光器，将领导激光器、光谱仪、输送光纤、气体流量计和软件的系统集成。*南安普顿大学将提供新的“空中制导”中红外光纤，以补充商业上可用的固体芯光纤，并有可能提供优越的远程传输特性。提议的资本设备及其将提供的附加值摘要：我们向STFC提出的要求是为Chromacity Spark-OPO的一种变体提供65%的资金，该变体提供2.4-3.1 um区域的宽带覆盖。Heriot-Watt和Chromacity分别出资25%和10%。提供正式报价。我们最初的项目提案期望重新利用为早期STFC项目购买的3-4-um宽带激光器用于大气光谱学，其中弱环境浓度（例如1.8 ppm CH4）需要与最强分子截面一致的波长。虽然IPS项目可以继续使用该激光器，但用拟议的短波长的光源取代先前指定的激光器有相当大的好处，即：a.由于横截面降低100倍，避免了线饱和，从而提高了测量精度。b.由于较低的光谱干扰，提高了物种可分辨性，再次提高了准确性。c.由于存在对H2S和CO2的吸收，将敏感性扩展到其他重要物种。d.这些新功能带来的附加商业价值，包括对浓度数据的更高置信度，对安全临界和高毒性H2S的监测，以及通过CO2信息监测储层质量。e.通过为项目提供专用激光源，而不是与另一笔拨款共享一个激光源，从而加速实验室研究。综上所述，移动到这个波长波段，现在可以分析天然气的所有主要成分，除了N2（一种浓度<5%的非红外活性气体）。

SUMMARY OF THE ORIGINAL PROJECT:Accurately monitoring the composition and flow-rate of natural gas from a petroleum reservoir is critical for extraction companies to quantify the productivity of their oil and gas fields. Our new project "Quantitative multi-species hydrocarbon metrology in gas pipelines" (ST/T000635/1) identified an opportunity for a first-to-market system integrating broadband, high-resolution mid-infrared spectroscopy into a conventional gas-flow meter. The project is supported by >£400K direct and in-kind contributions from industrial partners GM Flow Ltd. (a leader in dry-gas metering) and Chromacity Ltd. (a tunable laser manufacturer), and seeks to use fibre-delivered light from a pre-existing 3 - 4um laser to quantify the abundance of gaseous alkanes carried in pipelines from the production reservoir. The project methodology exploits high-resolution Fourier-transform laser spectroscopy and an innovative baseline-extraction algorithm, both emerging from an earlier STFC project (ST/P00699X/1), which resulted in a recent patent application and journal paper. Broadband mid-IR light is modulated by a scanning Michelson interferometer functioning as a high-resolution Fourier-transform spectrometer. This light is then fibre-coupled and used to interrogate gas sampled into a metrology cell at a flow meter. Our unique algorithm is used to extract the concentrations of the multiple gas species present.Heriot-Watt will manage the project and take responsibility for the hardware and software development associated with the multi-species gas spectrometer, and will collaborate with three partners as follows:* GM Flow manufacture flow meters for the "dry gas" market, and will engineer an integrated module that uniquely allows in-situ gas composition sampling and spectroscopy at the flow meter.* Chromacity, a HWU spin-out manufacturing near- to mid-IR femtosecond lasers, will lead the system integration of the laser, spectrometer, delivery-fibre, gas flow meter and software.* Southampton University will provide new "airguided" mid-IR fibres, complementing commercially available solid-core fibres and potentially offering superior long-range transmission characteristics.SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED CAPITAL EQUIPMENT AND THE ADDED VALUE IT WILL PROVIDE:Our request to STFC is for 65% funding of a variant of a Chromacity Spark-OPO, providing broadband coverage across the 2.4-3.1-um region. Co-funding of 25% from Heriot-Watt and 10% from Chromacity has been secured. A formal quotation is provided.Our original project proposal anticipated re-purposing a 3-4-um broadband laser purchased for an earlier STFC project in atmospheric spectroscopy, where the weak ambient concentrations (e.g. 1.8 ppm CH4) require wavelengths aligned to the strongest molecular cross-sections. While the IPS project could proceed with this laser, there are considerable benefits from replacing the previously earmarked laser with the proposed shorter-wavelength source, namely: a. Avoiding line saturation, due to the 100x lower cross-sections, thus improving measurement accuracy. b. Improving species distinguishability, due to lower spectral interference, again improving accuracy. c. Extending sensitivity to other important species, due to the presence of absorptions for H2S and CO2. d. The added commercial value introduced by these new features, including higher confidence in the concentration data, monitoring of safety critical and highly toxic H2S, and monitoring of reservoir quality through the CO2 information. e. The acceleration of lab research enabled by having a dedicated laser source for the project, rather than one shared with another grant.In summary, moving to this wavelength band would now allow ALL of the main components of natural gas to be analysed, with the exception of N2 (a non-infrared active gas presnt at <5% concentration).