First miniaturized universal gas analyzer for all renewable gases in all their extensive and complex composition at all production and consumption phases including Hydrogen purity for fuel cells

Project Information

GREENPIX

Grant agreement ID: 190160822

DOI

10.3030/190160822

Project closed

EC signature date 31 August 2022

Start date 1 February 2022

End date 31 March 2025

Funded under

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Total cost

€ 3 739 250,00

EU contribution

€ 2 500 000,00

Coordinated by

APIX ANALYTICS
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GREENPIX (First miniaturized universal gas analyzer for all renewable gases in all their extensive and complex composition at all production and consumption phases including Hydrogen purity for fuel cells)

Reporting period: 2023-05-01 to 2025-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Renewable-gas producers, grid operators and hydrogen value-chain actors increasingly need on-site quality control that can track ppm-level impurities and odorants in real time, yet today must rely on bulky laboratory chromatographs that cost tens of thousands of euros, consume large volumes of carrier gas and demand specialist upkeep. GREENPIX addresses this bottleneck by re-engineering every GC building block in MEMS silicon, slotting them onto a fluidic manifold that can be robot-assembled in 15 minutes instead of the six-plus hours required by conventional tubing-based modules. The project’s objectives were therefore threefold: (1) slash capital and operating costs through automated, PCB-style assembly and minimal gas consumption; (2) push detection limits to sub-ppm by combining cooled nano-gravimetric detectors with optimised chemical coatings; and (3) embed AI algorithms for self-configuration and predictive maintenance so that non-experts can run high-end analytics.

By the end of the project this pathway delivered a micro-GC channel that resolves complex gas mixtures in under one minute, cuts total cost of ownership by a factor of five to ten
and is already CE-certified and ordered by early adopters in mud-logging and odorant monitoring, demonstrating both market pull and regulatory readiness. Scaled across the 1 000+ sites now in discussion with partners such as CNPC, the technology promises double-digit-million euro savings and a substantial reduction in the energy and CO2 footprint of routine gas analysis, setting a clear trajectory from scientific innovation to economic and societal impact.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Throughout the project the consortium executed a coherent technical programme that moved the technology from individual MEMS prototypes to field-validated, production-ready instruments.

Building-block engineering: Redesigned silicon injector, pillar-array column and nano-gravimetric detector (NGD) chips were redesigned for pick-and-place compatibility and fabricated on 150 mm wafers. The elongated-pillar column now reaches 37 000 theoretical plates and resolves BTEX/alkane/terpene panels in < 90 s.
Sub-ppm sensitivity was achieved by combining low-temperature NGD operation (−30 °C) with optimised adsorption layers, giving a 100× lower limit of detection for BTEX and THT relative to the project baseline.

Module and software integration: The three chips were mounted on a glass-ceramic fluidic manifold that is robot-assembled in ≈ 15 min (previously > 6 h) and delivers leak-free electrical and fluidic interconnects.
A toolbox of AI algorithms for retention-time prediction, auto-calibration and contamination scoring was embedded in PixL Pro v2.10.10 enabling unattended operation and condition-based maintenance.

Industrialisation and validation: ISO-9001 production documentation and a four-level routing plan were transferred to manufacturing subsidiary nCx; a pre-series of 30 analytical channels was completed with > 90 % yield.
Field pilots for mud-logging and odorant monitoring demonstrated 22–25 s full C₁–C₅ chromatograms and stable sub-ppm detection over > 600 analyses, verifying specification compliance under real-world conditions.

Final outcomes: Two patent families covering the silicon injector process and cryogenic NGD have entered the PCT phase.
The integrated instrument (GreenPix 200) obtained CE marking and is now produced on demand, confirming that all technical and scientific objectives have been met and de-risked for commercial deployment.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Results that move the analytical state-of-the-art

Silicon micro-GC performance.
• Elongated-pillar columns fabricated on 150 mm wafers deliver 37 000 theoretical plates and resolve complex BTEX/alkane/terpene mixes in < 90 s—an efficiency–speed combination not reported in the literature.
• Cryogenically cooled nano-gravimetric detectors reach sub-ppm limits of detection, a 100-fold gain over the project baseline and three-to-ten-fold better than the best portable trace-gas analysers.
• Robot pick-and-place on a glass-ceramic fluidic manifold assembles a full analytical channel in ≈ 15 min instead of > 6 h and, coupled with AI auto-tuning, generates complete C₁–C₅ chromatograms every 22–25 s.

Impact outlook.
These advances cut the total cost of ownership by a factor of five to ten, lower carrier-gas and energy use by > 80 %, and enable real-time, in-line quality control for biomethane, hydrogen and safety-critical odorant networks. Scaling to the ~3 000 European renewable-gas sites alone would yield double-digit-million-euro operational savings and significantly reduce fugitive-emission events.

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