Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SRSensor (A breakthrough high resolution, real-time, industrial molecular analyser for advanced process control and energy optimization)
Période du rapport: 2020-05-01 au 2021-10-31
Two of the most emerging fuel sources today are natural gas (NG) and biogas. In NG, there is over 1M km of pipelines across the world and more than 2k NG processing plants (refineries and petrochemicals), with more than 40k measurement points which are currently monitored using ineffective and inefficient methods which lead to extended costs and long periods of downtime. Biogas is a type of fuel which is naturally produced from the decomposition of organic waste. Producing and enabling highest quality gas for fuels and production inputs have numerous economic advantages. Better fuel and production inputs means less greenhouse gas emissions, and cleaner combustion which leads less wear and tear on an engine as a result of less corrosion or debris build up. This directly translates to lower maintenance costs and a significantly lower risk of unexpected failures, leading to less lost time and maximum productivity. Molecular analysis can produce these huge cost savings, but its market penetration is hindered by the lack of a suitable real-time, highly accurate sensing solution. During the project, optiQGain will upgrade the sensor functionality to include additional gases for analysis, before scaling up the production with a SICK (CMO) and then demonstrating the system with natural gas and biogas companies. Once the product has been tested and validated in a relevant environment, optiQGain will file additional patents and register the product with the proper CE and ATEX certifications for market launch.
To date the company has performed an initial review of the specifications and tested the product internally. The result of the testing has yielded a change in the architecture of the sensor in order to maximize functionality and minimize costs. The company is in the process of closing the updated architecture design prior to adviancing to functionality testing of the new architecture which was delayed until RP2 as a result of the Coronavirus. Commercially, they have reached out to commercial partners in France, Italy, Germany and in Asia for future collaborations and sales.
The SRSensor will allow for gas analysis in one simply and easy to use analysis. the result of the measurement will allow for annual OPEX costs to be significantly reduced for energy/gas companies, the sensor also requires minimal maintenance and can generate high accuracy readings.