What is it about?
Transportation of crude oil via pipeline now face strong pushback owing to impending spills, and attendant environmental degradation. Therefore, smart pipes that are incapable of corrosion (PVCs) are interlaced with passive microwave sensors to proactively sense the pipe's structural condition in real-time, and communicate such info remotely via sets of antennae. Such info is monitored by the technical staff who immediately replace any compromised section of the pipeline prior to leakage.
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Why is it important?
The importance of this work is to provide an alternative solution to fossil fuel transportation with pipeline integrity. It is in line with the Green energy initiative to combat global warming.
Perspectives
The green new deal has caused the government of countries to lay out a grand plan for tackling climate change. Events of recent times where the crude oil price rose to $130/barrel have called for caution. Translation to net-zero carbon must be consistent but in parallel with plummeting fossils. Pending time, the cleanest fossil fuels found in North America, for instance, can be transported via ePipelines for leakage integrity. The existing metallic pipelines that are prone to corrosion are replaced with composite Flexi pipelines (PVC). However, a wet-PVC is also susceptible to degradation at a temperature of 60oC over a certain duration. To avoid this scenario, the PVC must be prevented from water/moisture absorption. A lab manufactured water sensing material is interlaid by a set of microwave sensors, to detect the pipe's wet state real-time. The information is then communicated remotely to the technical staff through sets of antennae mounted on a drone.
Professor Seyi Stephen Olokede
Papua New Guinea University of Technology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A planar microwave resonator with odd resonance for calibration in permanent moisture sensing applications, Applied Physics Letters, April 2021, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0034050.
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