LUX Innovate is a small Edinburgh-based company that specialises in the development of detection technologies based on light, and it is now applying techniques routinely used in biosciences to develop an oil-in-water and water-in-oil monitoring system for the oil&gas industry.
The system, LUX Monitor, involves the use of chemical markers that behave differently when associated with oil and water. A marker can be chosen which will fluoresce in water and produce a signal: the size of the signal is proportional to the quantity of water present, therefore the oil concentration of samples treated with the marker can be determined through fluorescence spectroscopy and information on droplet size can be obtained with the use of an imaging system.
The concept has been reversed to produce a further application in downstream water-in-oil testing by using an oil-specific marker.
Dr Vjera Magdalenic, chief business officer at the firm, says this approach to oil-in-water and water-in-oil detection is based on the same principles used for some applications in the biosciences sector – fluorescent markers that adhere to the lipid part of cell membranes are used in microscopy, for example.
“As an approach to oil-in-water monitoring, the use of fluorescent markers offers a very simple, sensitive and rapid alternative to existing techniques,” she told Energy.
“There is no requirement for complicated extraction processes; there is less need to calibrate before taking readings than with some other techniques, and the method is sensitive to all oil rather than just individual components.
“LUX Markers are added at the point of sampling, and light output can be measured immediately using equipment that can be deployed offshore, giving a real-time monitoring system that could be qualified for regulatory reporting. In addition, the technology can be used to analyse droplet size for optimisation of oil and water separation processes. This provides an advantage over the current optimisation methods involving light scattering or white-light imaging by increasing the contrast between oil and non-oil particles. There may also be potential to develop a portable in-line system based on this approach.”
LUX Innovate was founded in 2001 with a focus on the biosciences sector. Since then, it has evolved to apply its life sciences and chemical expertise to solve problems in other industries.
The development of LUX Monitor received initial funding from the Aberdeen-based Industry Technology Facilitator’s Pioneer scheme, which was set up to support feasibility studies for early-stage and potentially radical technology developments.
The initial Pioneer project was completed with promising results and, since then, ITF reports that LUX Innovate has continued to work closely with one of the facilitator’s members. LUX Monitor has been tested on samples from a member’s North Sea assets and commercialisation is in progress.
ITF’s operations director said of the LUX project: “The ever-increasing volumes of water being produced from maturing basins around the world, combined with tighter limits on oil-in-water discharges, make water management an important area for technology development.
“This is a great example of a technology transfer project where the application of well established concepts and methods from the life sciences sector to tackle an oil&gas industry issue has resulted in accelerated development of this new approach to oil-in-water and water-in-oil monitoring.
“LUX Innovate has also benefited from working closely with one of our member companies, ensuring that this technology meets real industry requirements.”
For more information about LUX Monitor, contact Dr Vjera Magdalenic via contact@luxinnovate.com