Improved polymer absorption sensors for oil detection

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Syscor co. has embarked on an ambitious R&D programme to develop sensor systems to monitor early stageleaks of pipelines for the transport of (crude) oil and natural gas. Early detection allows for timely intervention,so that remediation is easy and cheap. Syscor's technology is based on the Polymer Absorption Sensor (PAS)and they have shown proof-of-principle and have a patent on the technology. The PAS is a sensor where, uponsorption of specific chemicals, there is a physical change in sensor, i.e. the polymer swells because of uptake ofa volatile hydrocarbon, resulting in corresponding change in sensor resistivity. A PAS is generally comprised ofa base elastomeric polymer film, which selectively adsorb target hydrocarbons, and a distribution of conductiveparticles (e.g. one or more metallic or carbon-based particles) to enhance the response changes in the resistanceof the polymer film. However, for commercial viability there remain some outstanding issues, such assensitivity, reversibility, cross-sensitivity and fabrication reproducibility. The sensitivity has to be increased,especially for the least volatile compounds, so that leaks can be detected at the earliest possible time. Thereversibility of the sensors has to be improved because baseline drift makes the data processing unnecessarilycomplicated and over time potentially unreliable, but more importantly diminishes the earliest possibledetection. Cross-sensitivity of a sensor refers to PAS response to a confounding environmental condition (e.g.time-varying fluctuations in temperature and /or water saturation), which interferes with reliable measurements.The cross-sensitivity of PASs has to be mitigated for acquiring readily interpretable data. Reproducibility of thefabrication process is an obvious requirement for a commercial application, but not part of the goals of thisproposal.