Real-time chemical process control incorporating microfluidic devices

结合微流体装置的实时化学过程控制

• 批准号: 412193-2010
• 负责人: Bhattacharjee, Subir
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Engage Grants Program
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2011-01-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=490844
• 关键词: Real; time; chemical; process; control

Tremendous progress has been made in the areas of microfluidics and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) over the past decade. Such systems can potentially revolutionize process control in petrochemical industries. The proposed collaboration with Wave Control Systems Ltd. is aimed toward demonstrating the benefits of incorporating microfluidics based sensors for automated process stream quality management. Wave Control manufactures a patented chemical feed injection system, which is designed to deliver very accurate doses of treatment chemicals to the process streams in petroleum plants. We intend to place microfluidic sensors in the process streams, and connect these with the chemical feed injection system. Thus, when the sensor measures a change in some variable in the process stream, it will trigger the chemical injection system to inject a treatment at an appropriate dose. This automatic control system with a sensory feedback will be built and applied to solve a ubiquitous problem of the petroleum industry, namely, de-emulsification, or separation of oil and water. Our laboratory is developing a microfluidic chip for detecting the stability of water-in-oil emulsions. This can be used to measure the efficacy and dosage of specialty chemicals called de-emulsifiers, commonly employed by the petroleum industry for de-emulsification. The specific objective of this Engage project will be to develop a chip that can be integrated with the chemical feed injection technology of Wave Control. The combined system will detect the stability of a water-in-oil emulsion, provide signals to the dosing system, which will inject a required quantity of de-emulsifier to the emulsion to destabilize it. Such systems will immediately give Wave Control a vastly improved product portfolio to enhance the reliability of the heavy oil production facilities in Alberta through prevention of upset conditions, equipment fouling, and downtime. In addition, optimal and accurate dosing of the additive chemicals, no more and no less, results in significant cost savings for the industrial users. Adoption of such microfluidic control technologies by the oil sands industry can nurture the micro-nano technology sector in Alberta.

过去十年，微流体和微机电系统（MEMS）领域取得了巨大进展。此类系统有可能彻底改变石化行业的过程控制。拟议与 Wave Control Systems Ltd. 的合作旨在展示采用基于微流体的传感器进行自动化工艺流质量管理的好处。 Wave Control 制造了一种获得专利的化学品进料注射系统，该系统旨在向石油厂的工艺流提供非常精确剂量的处理化学品。我们打算将微流体传感器放置在工艺流中，并将它们与化学进料注射系统连接。因此，当传感器测量到工艺流中某些变量的变化时，它将触发化学注入系统以适当的剂量注入处理剂。这种具有传感反馈的自动控制系统将被建造并应用于解决石油工业普遍存在的问题，即油水分离。 我们实验室正在开发一种用于检测油包水乳液稳定性的微流控芯片。这可用于测量称为破乳剂的特种化学品的功效和剂量，石油工业通常用于破乳。该Engage项目的具体目标是开发一款可以与Wave Control的化学进料注入技术集成的芯片。该组合系统将检测油包水乳液的稳定性，向计量系统提供信号，该系统将向乳液中注入所需量的破乳剂以使其不稳定。此类系统将立即为 Wave Control 带来大幅改进的产品组合，通过防止异常情况、设备结垢和停机来提高艾伯塔省重油生产设施的可靠性。此外，添加剂化学品的最佳和准确剂量，不多也不少，可以为工业用户节省大量成本。油砂行业采用此类微流体控制技术可以培育艾伯塔省的微纳米技术行业。