Chemical monitoring and management specialist LUX Assure (Edinburgh, United Kingdom) and the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, United Kingdom) have secured a grant from Scotland’s Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) to further develop the specialist’s CoMic† technology to provide the industry’s first corrosion inhibitor micelle detection tool with automated data analysis capability.
The investment was made to support a partnership between the industry company, OGIC, and signal processing and data analysis researchers at the university. The project aims to develop CoMic’s existing manual analysis methodology, create bespoke algorithms, and exploit novel mathematical techniques to automatically analyze data gathered during on-site chemical tests, according to the specialist.
“This project will enable LUX Assure to provide information to our clients both on-site and in real-time, informing them of optimal corrosion inhibitor dosage and enabling prompt decision making on chemical injection,” says CEO Emma Perfect.
“Chemical use plays an important part in protecting oilfield assets, and technologies such as CoMic enable better chemical management,” Perfect adds. “Off-site data processing and evaluation is currently required; this leads to delays in obtaining results and can be a barrier to sales where data cannot leave the oilfield being monitored. Automated data analytics tools for use on-site, will facilitate quicker decision-making and deliver significant benefits to clients. Evolving the business towards providing such tools is of huge importance to us.”.
Inspired by technologies used in life sciences, CoMic is an on-site chemical monitoring technology used to maintain asset integrity through delivering effective corrosion management, by informing management of corrosion inhibitors, and providing data on the optimal level of corrosion inhibitor. The technology was redeveloped in 2017 to create the world’s first operator-deployable corrosion inhibitor detection tool.
“Asset integrity management is vital to ensure that offshore operations are carried out safely and efficiently,” says Ian Phillips, chief executive of OGIC. “The technology being developed is an excellent example of how automated data management can bring major benefits to offshore operations. This technology has the potential to improve chemical monitoring on projects while reducing costs and increasing efficiency, as the real-time relay of data will allow decisions to be made proactively.”
Source: LUX Assure, www.luxassure.com.
†Trade name.