Development of coated fibre-optic sensors to monitor carbon dioxide

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dc.contributor.authorMelo, Luis
dc.contributor.supervisorWild, Peter
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-22T20:57:26Z
dc.date.available2016-07-22T20:57:26Z
dc.date.copyright2016en_US
dc.date.issued2016-07-22
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Mechanical Engineering
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy Ph.D.en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation presents a fibre-optic sensing approach to provide continuous measurements of CO2 concentration at discrete points under typical conditions of geological CO2 storage. Carbon capture and storage is considered to have potential for a large-scale reduction in CO2 emissions in a relatively short period of time while other solutions to replace fossil fuels are being investigated. One significant drawback of carbon capture and storage is the possibility of long-term CO2 leakage. Therefore, the development of reliable technology for monitoring, verification, and accounting of geological CO2 storage is critical to fulfill safety regulations and achieve public acceptance. The major limitations of current technology include relatively low resolutions, high costs, and the lack of continuous monitoring for long periods of time. To address these limitations, two types of fibre-optic sensors are investigated, namely long period gratings and Mach-Zehnder interferometers. The sensing principle for CO2 detection is based on the sensitivity of these sensors to the refractive index of the medium that surrounds the fibre. Fibre-optic sensors are attractive for downhole applications due to the possibility of fabricating inexpensive high resolution devices that are able to operate in harsh environments over long periods of time. This dissertation focuses on increasing the refractive index sensitivity of long period gratings and Mach-Zehnder interferometers by applying coatings that have a high refractive index. The dip-coating method is used to coat long period gratings with polystyrene, and the sensitivity at low refractive indices is increased by tuning coating thickness. The results show that long period gratings coated with polystyrene are able to detect CO2 in gaseous and aqueous media. This work reports the first measurement of CO2 dissolution in water at high pressure with a fibre-optic sensor. Additionally, atomic layer deposition is investigated to coat long period gratings and Mach-Zehnder interferometers with hafnium oxide. The study of this coating technique aims to address the main limitation of the dip-coating method: the challenge to achieve precise control over coating thickness. The results show that atomic layer deposition is suitable to maximize the sensitivity of long period gratings and Mach-Zehnder interferometers at a target refractive index.en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0548en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0752en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0799en_US
dc.description.proquestemailluismelo@uvic.caen_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationL. Melo, G. Burton, B. Davies, D. Risk, and P. Wild, “Highly sensitive coated long period grating sensor for CO2 detection at atmospheric pressure,” Sensors Actuators B Chem., vol. 202, pp. 294-300, 2014.en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationL. Melo, G. Burton, S. Warwick, and P. M. Wild, “Experimental Investigation of Long-Period Grating Transition Modes to Monitor CO2 in High-Pressure Aqueous Solutions,” J. Light. Technol., vol. 33, no. 12, pp. 2554–2560, 2015.en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationL. Melo, G. Burton, P. Kubik, and P. Wild, "Long period gratings coated with hafnium oxide by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition for refractive index measurements,” Opt. Express, vol. 24, no. 7, p. 7654, 2016.en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationL. Melo, G. Burton, P. Kubik, and P. Wild, “Refractive index sensor based on inline Mach-Zehnder interferometer coated with hafnium oxide by atomic layer deposition,” Sensors Actuators B Chem., vol. 236, pp. 537–545, 2016en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/7416
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectFibre-optic sensoren_US
dc.subjectCarbon dioxideen_US
dc.subjectLong period gratingen_US
dc.subjectRefractive indexen_US
dc.subjectAtomic layer depositionen_US
dc.subjectCoatingen_US
dc.subjectCarbon capture and storageen_US
dc.titleDevelopment of coated fibre-optic sensors to monitor carbon dioxideen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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