Improved polymer absorption sensors for oil detection

Syscor公司启动了一项雄心勃勃的研发计划，旨在开发传感器系统，以监测原油和天然气运输管道的早期泄漏。早期发现有助于及时干预，因此补救措施既容易又便宜。Syscor的技术基于聚合物吸收传感器（PAS），他们已经展示了原理证明，并拥有该技术的专利。PAS是一种传感器，在吸收特定化学物质时，传感器会发生物理变化，即聚合物因吸收挥发性碳氢化合物而膨胀，导致传感器电阻率相应变化。PAS通常由基弹性体聚合物膜（选择性吸附目标碳氢化合物）和导电颗粒（例如一个或多个金属或碳基颗粒）的分布组成，以增强聚合物膜电阻的响应变化。然而，对于商业可行性而言，仍然存在一些突出的问题，如灵敏度、可逆性、交叉灵敏度和制造可重复性。必须提高灵敏度，特别是对挥发性最低的化合物，以便尽早发现泄漏。传感器的可逆性必须得到改进，因为基线漂移使数据处理变得不必要的复杂，并且随着时间的推移可能不可靠，但更重要的是减少了最早的可能检测。传感器的交叉灵敏度是指PAS对干扰可靠测量的混杂环境条件（例如温度和/或水饱和度随时间变化的波动）的响应。为了获取易于解释的数据，必须降低PASs的交叉敏感性。制造过程的可重复性是商业应用的明显要求，但不是本提案目标的一部分。

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.