HYDROPTICS will develop a set of integrated sensors, making use of advanced photonics subsystems, aimed at optimising the processes of the oil industry. The device will be validated in real industrial settings, for oil extraction and oil refining processes. The HYDROPTICS platform will perform: 1) oil in water measurements, 2) corrosion inhibitor concentration measurements, 3) oil droplets and suspended solids in water measurements, 4) industrial process optimisation, based on simulation of processes through digital twins, as well as data assimilation from the readings coming from the sensors. HYDROPTICS makes use of cutting edge photonics in order to perform the above tasks: a) Quantum Cascade Laser Frequency Combs spectroscopy, for ultra fast and sensing of oil in water concentration. b) Quantum Cascade Laser ATR spectroscopy, using MCM surface ATR crystals, for ultra-sensitive sensing of corrosion inhibitors in water. c) High resolution spectral and spatial resolution hyperspectral imaging, for particle classification in aqueous suspensions. The final HYDROPTICS platform will be tested in both upstream (oil extraction) and downstream (oil processing) industrial processes, in order to validate the sensors, and fine-tune the algorithms that regard process optimisation of said industrial processes.
