Spill detection


Fluorescent technology holds key to oil spill detection


Light shed on oil spills


Oil on water


tection technology platform that is capable of detecting the natural fluorescence of even tiny amounts of oil in water. The nascent technology could be deployed on oil rigs to give early warning of a spill. Crude oil is naturally fluo-


C


rescent. When ultraviolet light is shone on it, it emits light in the visible spectrum which ap- pears blue-white. This fluores- cence is mostly due to the hydrocarbons present in the lighter crudes. The light given off from a thin film of oil is visually strik- ing – and can be used as the basis of a detection system. Fluorescence has been ex- ploited in attempts to detect oil slicks remotely from aircraft using lasers. But the lasers in- volved are expensive and diffi- cult to operate, which makes them unsuitable for the de- manding marine environment. Cambridge Consultants


said: “Fortunately, thanks to modern technology, there are compact, high-power light sources which can be used to provide a low cost system with a useful detection range and sensitivity. And modern optical detectors and signal processing techniques can boost the sensitivity still fur- ther.”


A system which can de- tect a thin layer of oil float-


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ambridge Consult- ants has taken the first steps in build- ing an oil spill de-


ing on water can immedi- ately be deployed as a ‘smoke alarm’ underneath a produc- tion platform. The low cost of such technology means systems could be fitted to navigation buoys around the coast which ‘phone in’ a warning that spilled oil is coming ashore.


A similar system could also be used subsea to monitor spe- cific areas or even pinpoint leaks which have already been detected from the surface. Cambridge Consultants has a long track record of de- livering innovative


fluores-


cence detection solutions for challenging applications such as clinical diagnostics equip- ment, fertility monitors and pregnancy tests. “The environmental im- pact of oil and gas leaks has never been more visible to the public – with the recent disas- ter in the Gulf of Mexico – yet the solutions currently avail- able do not meet all the re- quirements in terms of performance and reliability,” said Dr Frances Metcalfe, asso- ciate director, oil and gas, at Cambridge Consultants. Many oil companies still


primarily rely on unsophisti- cated visual reports which are not consistently accurate. Many leaks are not detected until a slick comes to the sur- face and is visible to the human eye. The new technology aims to provide a compact, robust


system that can be perma- nently installed, for example, along subsea pipelines. Dr Metcalfe said: “To be


effective and trusted, any de- tection system must detect spills early enough but be im- mune to false alarms – other- wise it will not be used. “Our work so far shows


that any reliable oil spill detec- tion system will need to use more than one sensing method, and the best combination will depend largely on where and how it is going to be used. An oil spill ‘alarm’ system of sen- sors distributed across the seabed – or a series of oil plat- forms – is going to need a dif- ferent design solution from a system for scanning a harbour or stretch of coastline from a distance to track oil spills that might be heading for the shore.”


The new oil spill detection technology platform is the lat- est in a series of high-perfor- mance sensor developments Cambridge Consultants has undertaken for the oil and gas industry. “Developing new technologies to tackle difficult but high-value issues for this industry is a growing area of activity for us and we are ac- tively growing our team,” said Dr Metcalfe.


Cambridge Consultants has begun discussions with manufacturers and users to fine-tune its technology to their requirements and de- velop its ideas further.


November/December 2012 Offshore Technology

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