The quality of process measurement data from both plants and laboratories is fundamentally limited by the need to physically sample the process fluids. This limit can be overcome by conducting in-situ measurements of the fluid compositions through advanced spectroscopy. Integrating with Project PVT Measurements & Modelling for LNG , in situ Raman will be used for dynamic measurements of relevant mass-transfer coefficients in multi component mixtures to provide a fundamental description of non-equilibrium effects in operational cryogenic distillation columns, in place of empirical correlations for ‘tray efficiencies’. The PhD student will also use optical frequency combs and virtually imaged phased arrays to interrogate the composition of high-pressure gas mixtures with a million laser signals that can then be spatially separated and detected simultaneously by a CCD camera. A tremendous amount of rapidly produced redundant information can be used to uniquely identify substances with very similar molecular structures, allow self-calibration of the measurement, and reliably quantify the substance’s concentration. Recently CIs Anstie, May and co-workers have applied this technology to gas mixtures with promising results. The PhD project will focus on the challenges of large-scale data analysis and measurement protocol optimisation.
Novel Sensors for Smart Production
