Exnics is a subsea technology company determined to solve big industrial problems with innovative new products. The team take a market led approach and has a history of successfully identifying structural inefficiencies and bottlenecks within the industry and then resolving them with new fast to market technologies and products. Exnics is developing a low cost, low power, non-intrusive and retrofitable subsea tool for monitoring well performance and flow assurance of subsea oil and gas wells. A cost-effective method for monitoring individual wells will lead to improved recovery rates for subsea wells, boosting profitability.

This Analysis for Innovators projects takes NELs expertise in fluid & particle dynamics and applies it to Lineats novel recycled carbon fibre process. Carbon fibre is renowned for its high strength to weight ratio, frequently used in lightweighting applications across a range of markets. However, it comes with heavy environmental and financial costs. It is 40x more expensive than steel with 20x higher CO2 emissions per kg, yet less than 10% is recycled making it one of world's most expensive single-use materials. Additionally what is recycled is of poor performance and limited to filler products, reducing the potential market for recycled carbon fibre significantly. This results in tens of thousands of tonnes of carbon fibre entering landfill every year, at the same time that the UK is heavily reliant on carbon fibre imports. Lineats process offers a solution for both of these problems simultaneously, taking chopped carbon fibre waste and converting it into an aligned continuous tape, which can act as a substitute for virgin carbon fibre. This is done via the dispersion of carbon fibres in water, and then spraying them through a patented alignment process. However productivity and quality are hindered by the formation of networks of intermingled fibres, known as flocs, creating defects in the end product as well as delaying production, and limiting the concentration of fibres in the water, limiting output. Attempts to predict floc formation within the process via fluid simulation have been unsuccessful as fibre-fibre interaction is a crucial parameter, and further experimental testing is not feasible due to the scale of equipment and volumes of water involved. To model the flow of fibres and fluid through the process NEL will utilise advanced computational fluid dynamic techniques alongside particle dynamic analysis via the discrete element model. This will enable the conditions and parameters that influence floc formation to be identified, enabling future machines to be optimised. This will be supported by experimental testing performed by Lineat.

The worldwide transition to renewable energy will require a significant increase in energy storage capacity over the next 10-20 years. To date, pumped hydropower is the dominant energy storage technology. At times of low energy demand, with associated low costs, water is pumped from a lower reservoir several hundred meters uphill to an upper reservoir. As energy prices rise, water is released through turbines, regenerating electricity to supply the grid. While conventional pumped hydropower offers best-in-class economics, the site requirement of significant elevation gain, regulations, and large project sizes often lead to planning and implementation cycles of more than a decade per project. As such, pumped hydropower energy storage cannot be deployed at the scale and rate required to support the energy transition. RheEnergise is bringing scalability to pumped energy storage with our solution: High-Density Hydro (HD Hydro(r)). Instead of water, our projects use a fluid with 2.5x the density of water, enabling projects to be feasible on small hills instead of mountains. Therefore, the number of potential project sites is two orders of magnitude higher than that of conventional pumped hydropower. The core of RheEnergise's technology is the proprietary high-density fluid "R-19". R-19 is a dense, water-based mineral suspension, optimized to be low-cost and low-viscosity whilst displaying a high degree of stability. R-19 is an existing product developed in partnership with the University of Greenwich. The high-density fluid is currently being deployed at scale (2500t) on RheEnergise's 500kW demonstrator project site in Plymouth, UK. Other than the fluid, the component design of the HD Hydro technology can leverage over a century of experience with conventional hydropower. However, all components (including pipes, pumps, turbines, valves, and control systems) are specifically designed and optimised for operation with R-19\. The common objective is to minimise project costs while maximising project efficiency and longevity. Therefore, the properties of the high-density fluid directly impact the system design and project economics. In this vein, RheEnergise is thrilled to partner with experts at NEL to develop a thorough characterisation and monitoring process of R-19\. This provides crucial feedback to engineers designing HD Hydro systems for optimal efficiency. Furthermore, RheEnergise will use developed analysis techniques to streamline development of next-generation high-density fluids to incorporate locally available feedstock. The ability to utilise mineral already at a project site would further improve the compelling economic and environmental case to deploy the HD Hydro solution to the energy transition emergency.

This project aims to support the introduction and validation of an innovative renewable gas blending technology for the global gas industry. By enabling efficient integration of biomethane and other renewable gases into existing gas grids, the project contributes to a more sustainable and cost-effective solution. At present, blending renewable gases into the gas network presents technical challenges, primarily due to the lack of effective, integrated solutions that ensure homogeneous mixing. To address this issue, Bohr Limited has developed the HyProbe Blending technology. This is a unique, retrofittable probe designed to blend renewable gases efficiently and at a significantly lower cost than conventional methods. Technology blends gas within a shorter length of the pipelines and is designed to work in high velocity pipelines where other systems may fail. Gas off-takers can be placed at any pipe length confidently, by reducing the length of the pipe to achieve a homogeneous blend. However, before this technology can gain industry-wide acceptance, it must be rigorously validated through scientific analysis and fluid dynamics modelling. This project will use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to analyze the behavior of injected renewable gas as it interacts with the existing natural gas stream. By studying the way gases mix, disperse, and reach a homogeneous state within the pipeline, the project will generate performance data to support the claims of the HyProbe technology. A range of parameters related to the geometry, injected gas properties and parent stream gas properties will be varied to provide an operating envelope and wider understanding of the factors affecting blending performance. Scientific validation is a critical acceptance criterion for the gas industry, as it requires assurance that new blending technologies can meet regulatory and operational standards. By providing clear, reliable evidence of gas blend homogeneity, this project will help position HyProbe as a trusted, cost-effective, and sustainable solution for renewable gas injection.

This project focused on advancing the capabilities of thermodynamic modelling for hydrogen-rich systems, particularly in applications where impurities play a significant role. The work will be organised into several distinct phases, each targeting a critical aspect of hydrogen's thermophysical properties and its implications for industrial use. The project will be leveraging the combined expertise of Zodan Solutions and TUV SUD NEL as A4I Partner to improve the accuracy of our Smart ResSim technology for hydrogen transportation & storage applications. In this pioneering project, our primary mission is to enhance our cutting-edge technology's ability to accurately analyse and predict the behaviour of hydrogen transportation and geological storage. Initially focusing on the UK market, with a vision to expand globally, our ambitious goal is to accelerate the development of Smart ResSim, our state-of-the-art technology at Zodan Solutions. Through our previous IUK A4I Projects, this technology evolved into a sophisticated system that enables customers to perform precise monitoring and optimisation of CO2 storage processes. This initiative creates exciting opportunities for Zodan Solutions to position itself as a leader in the emerging hydrogen economy. Our project aims to further refine our novel machine learning and mathematical models using newly generated experimental datasets of hydrogen containing fluids that represent real field conditions. This effort focuses on addressing key challenges with cost-effective solutions before commercial deployment, in the areas of hydrogen transportation and subsurface geological storage, with an emphasis on the UK continental shelf (UKCS). The project's technological advancements are designed to fill the current gap in the hydrogen market, where no readily available off-the-shelf solutions exist for these complex challenges: 1. Enhancement of the Smart ResSim Platform: We aim to optimise the Smart ResSim platform from Zodan Solutions using hydrogen thermophysical properties datasets collected under real field conditions. 2. Advancement of Thermodynamic Models: We will further develop our smart models and thermodynamic equations of state (EoSs), significantly benefiting the hydrogen sector by reducing measurement uncertainties. 3. Precise Monitoring of Hydrogen fluid flow in porous media: The project will focus on advanced monitoring techniques to analyse the propagation and geochemical interactions of hydrogen-rich fluids as they move through geological porous media. 4. Validation of Reactive Fluid Transport Models: We will validate our unique machine-learned models for hydrogen rich fluid transport ensuring that these models are robust, reliable, and ready for real-world application in hydrogen storage and transport scenarios.

In the current landscape, the scale of hydrogen emissions or losses in the UK carries significant implications, both economically and environmentally. Present estimates indicate substantial hydrogen losses in the UK due to leakage during production, transportation, and distribution processes, resulting in considerable annual economic inefficiencies. The primary objective of this project is to address a notable and financially burdensome challenge that requires specialised attention. Traditional off-the-shelf facilities and technologies are inadequate for effectively tackling the unique nature of this problem, necessitating the development of our distinct technology. This project aims to utilise the HyCCS Tech hydrogen compositional monitoring system to accurately determine the hydrogen content in blended natural gas streams. As the demand for decarbonised fuels increases, blending hydrogen with natural gas presents a significant opportunity to reduce carbon emissions. Specifically, this approach has the potential to cut CO2 emissions by 41 million tonnes annually, particularly in domestic and industrial heating sectors. However, hydrogen has a lower energy content per unit volume compared to natural gas, and the maximum allowable hydrogen content in the blend is capped at 20% by volume. Therefore, it is crucial to cost and control these hydrogen-blended streams precisely. Accurate monitoring and management are essential to ensure the safe operation of gas networks and to provide precise billing for consumers. The HyCCS Tech system plays a critical role in this context, offering advanced capabilities to measure and regulate hydrogen concentrations within the gas streams. This ensures that the integration of hydrogen does not compromise the integrity of the existing infrastructure or the safety of its operation. Furthermore, this monitoring is vital for maintaining the economic feasibility of hydrogen blending, ensuring that the transition to lower-carbon fuels is both practical and efficient. Therefore, the development of our innovative technology represents a deliberate and strategic response to these challenges. By focusing on the specific nuances of hydrogen gas leakage detection, our approach aims to offer a more effective, efficient, and economically viable solution compared to the existing methodologies. This initiative not only addresses the immediate concerns related to hydrogen losses but also contributes to the broader goals of enhancing economic efficiency and environmental sustainability within the energy sector of the UK.

The energy and carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) sectors are encountering a challenge concerning flow assurance attributable to hydrate deposition within pipelines, wherein hydrate formation frequently occurs at inaccessible sites. Beyond mere obstruction, one of the key issues involves the displacement of hydrate plugs within pipelines at high velocities, posing a potential rupture risk. Any obstruction within a transportation pipeline due to hydrate formation represents a grave threat to both economic viability and operational safety. Traditionally, mitigating hydrate-related risks in transfer lines and process facilities involves eliminating one of the factors conducive to hydrate formation. For instance, methods such as thermal insulation and external heating are employed to address the low-temperature aspect. Water removal can be achieved through stream dehydration using glycol systems, while lowering operating pressures can diminish the likelihood of hydrate formation within production, carbon capture, and transportation systems. However, the applicability of these conventional techniques may be limited, particularly in offshore and deepwater settings, due to spatial constraints and the associated high costs of insulation, heating, and capital investment. Presently, the prevalent industry approach involves the utilisation of various chemical or hydrate inhibitors to counteract this flow assurance impediment. Nevertheless, the substantial dosage requirements of these inhibitors can lead to significant escalations in operational expenses, particularly in scenarios characterized by high water concentrations within the system, along with logistical and environmental challenges. Therefore, enhanced insights into monitoring of the concentration of inhibitors and chemicals in the field for hydrate mitigation empower energy operators to effectively manage the concentrations of the chemicals they used, cut the operation costs, and ultimately optimising CO2 transportation, storage, and gas production operations. This innovative project's objective is to pioneer the development of the world's first ultrafast and smart online hydrate inhibitors monitoring technology. Simultaneously, it aims to create an intelligent technology for optimisation of the hydrate inhibitors in the field and saving £billions per year. This novel technology serves not only hydrocarbon production applications for maximising the economic recovery but also for CCUS applications to reach net-zero targets, both in the UK and globally.

The textiles industry accounts for 100 million tonnes of waste annually yet less than 1% of clothing is closed-loop recycled. This post-consumer waste is a complex mix of many different materials. Zori Tex's mission is to drive circularity in fashion through technology innovation, maximising the availability of high-quality feedstocks for fibre recycling. This project addresses improvements in textile waste data measurements and an understanding of that data. Replacing virgin fibres with recycled ones reduces the impacts of the fashion industry by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water use and waste, helping to meet climate obligations and making the UK less wasteful.

Big Sky Theory (BST) is developing airborne meteorological collection methods and understanding whilst harnessing emerging technology, optimising flight profiles and enhancing post processing. Working alongside the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and TUV SUD National Engineering Laboratory (NEL), BST plans to address the fundamental hurdles of airborne data collection using UAVs. Whilst commercially available sensors exist, a lack of research, development, test and evaluation continues to hamper drone-mounted employment techniques. The Analysis 4 Innovators (A4I) mini-project will span 3 months and include design, assembly, integration, simulation, flight trials and analysis prior to the development of a processing, exploitation and dissemination methodologies. Upon project completion BST will launch a new service providing a range of Use Cases for timely, accurate and low uncertainty airborne meteorological data. Successful integration onto a UAV is a critical enabler. Through a dedicated literature review of current practices, combined with expert industry know-how, BST will create and integrate an ultra-sonic anemometer ready for trials. The design goal is to reduce vibration, torque and pendulum effect which are known to cause erroneous data and second order effects to linked systems. Harnessing cutting-edge information technology, BST will join the NEL in researching aircraft induced turbulence and rotor wash via the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling (CFDM). This stage of the project is designed to de-risk field-work whilst also creating an assured baseline of understanding related to the quadcopter aircraft. The CFDM will identify the required displacement of the sensor in relation to the rotors and an optimised operational configuration. To validate the CFDM results, BST and the NPL will deploy to a test site to fly the computationally derived configuration as part of a continuous improvement operational evaluation plan. The lessons identified and know-how will be fed back into the software to support post processing analysis. BST will provide an assured meteorological service to a wide range of Use Cases. The sensor output is a critical enabler in Methane plume mapping, an ongoing project for BST and NPL. Once integrated onto the aircraft and proven through trials, BST will include the sensor within future emissions inspection services. In addition to Methane management applications, the meteorological capability can support UK forecasting, forestry, renewable energy and agriculture. This is a truly exciting project exploring and exploiting airborne operations. BST remains committed to the pursuit of innovation through validation and the safe, effective and efficient application of UAV technology.

This project explores the idea of simultaneous ultrasound transmission for the purposes of flow measurement in liquids and gasses. The key benefits include higher sampling speed and reduced overall flowmeter system complexity. Combined with other innovation in the field, this will allow Intsonic limited to improve the existing products and develop new, accurate and cost-efficient devices. Key project activities include building a few different sets of transducers, characterise their properties and test in a real-world flow measurement scenario.

A prominent challenge in the Flow Assurance discipline of the energy industry revolves around preventing the formation of hydrate plugs during gas production and transportation, and CO2 clathrate hydrates for the Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) sector. Traditional methods have focused on avoiding the thermodynamic zone conducive to gas hydrate formation, employing techniques such as thermal insulation, heating, extensive thermodynamic inhibitor injection, and effluent dehydration. While effective, these approaches are becoming costlier, especially in harsher offshore environments, and do not always ensure a direct correlation between hydrate crystal formation and plug occurrence. An emerging trend in CCUS technology involves the transportation of impure CO2 within the hydrate pressure and temperature (P&T) zone, requiring careful considerations. To adopt this transportation mode, the development of innovative monitoring instruments is crucial to provide precise information on hydrate plugging risks during transportation within the hydrate P&T zone. Enhanced insights into hydrate formation dynamics empower energy operators to effectively manage and mitigate risks, optimising CO2 transportation, storage, and gas production operations. This ground-breaking project's objective is to pioneer the development of the world's first ultrafast and intelligent online hydrate initial formation monitoring tool. Simultaneously, it aims to create smart technology for detecting early signs of hydrate formation. This innovation serves not only hydrocarbon production applications for maximising economic recovery but also CCUS applications to meet net-zero targets, both in the UK and worldwide.

To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions need to be dramatically reduced. This will only be possible by reducing the EU’s reliance on fossil fuels. Hydrogen offers a sustainable alternative, which can be distributed through gas networks, with the ability to fulfil societal, economic, ecological and technological objectives. Hydrogen can be stored underground, or in the existing natural gas network, which allows it to meet fluctuating energy demands in a way that is not practical for renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. Although large scale decarbonised hydrogen projects are expanding across Europe, there is no large scale verified metrological infrastructure to perform traceable pure hydrogen flow calibrations for gas networks. This project will address this by contributing to the development of the required metrological infrastructure, which has the potential to reinforce Europe’s leading position in the hydrogen economy.

In the present-day context, the extent and implications of hydrogen emissions or losses within the UK are of paramount importance, with far-reaching consequences that span both economic and environmental spectrums. Preliminary analyses indicate that the nation confronts significant challenges related to hydrogen losses, which predominantly occur due to leakages throughout the stages of production, transportation, and distribution. These leakages culminate in noteworthy economic inefficiencies on an annual basis, underscoring the urgency of addressing such issues with effective solutions. The primary objective of this A4I project is to tackle a challenge of considerable magnitude and financial impact, which demands a focused and specialised approach. The prevalent solutions available in the market, which are generally designed for broader applications, fall short in addressing the intricate and unique challenges associated with hydrogen gas leakages. This inadequacy stems from the limitations of conventional off-the-shelf facilities and technologies, which, although they may be suitable for other applications, do not meet the specific requirements needed to mitigate hydrogen loss effectively. Notably, while the market offers a variety of leakage detection technologies for substances such as natural gas, these solutions are not directly transferable to the context of hydrogen gas. The reasons for this include not only the high capital costs associated with deploying such technologies but also their need for regular maintenance and repair, which adds to the overall expense and complexity of their implementation. Furthermore, a critical drawback of these existing technologies is their diminished accuracy and efficiency when applied to detecting hydrogen gas within the national transmission and distribution systems. This limitation is particularly concerning, given the unique properties of hydrogen gas and the specific challenges it presents in terms of leakage detection. Therefore, the development of our innovative technology represents a deliberate and strategic response to these challenges. By focusing on the specific nuances of hydrogen gas leakage detection, our approach aims to offer a more effective, efficient, and economically viable solution compared to the existing methodologies. This initiative not only addresses the immediate concerns related to hydrogen losses but also contributes to the broader goals of enhancing economic efficiency and environmental sustainability within the energy sector of the UK.

The deployment of the inaugural field-scale integrated geological storage of CO2 and H2 presents an innovative strategy with substantial potential to facilitate the transition to a renewable hydrogen economy and meet the ambitious UK net-zero target by 2050\. Zodan Solutions' advanced well testing solution, the Pressure transient analysis (PTA) technology, is strategically positioned to advance and refine this approach by enabling rapid and precise monitoring and analysis throughout the geological storage process, with a particular emphasis on injection scenarios. While a limited number of CCUS projects in the UK have repurposed existing infrastructure for CO2 storage, there exists an opportunity to leverage the extensive North Sea region infrastructure for broader CCUS deployment in support of the hydrogen economy. This transition involves capitalising on the accrued expertise from the oil and gas industry to facilitate a shift toward cleaner energy sources. This approach minimises capital expenditure (CAPEX) and maximises the utilisation of onshore and offshore assets through effective maintenance strategies. The initial target of this three-months project encompass two key objectives: 1\. To build and improve fundamental understanding of thermophysical properties of CO2 and Hydrogen rich fluid at the reservoir conditions. 2\. To conduct detailed evaluation and optimisation of our novel PTA technology to overcome critical scientific and field scale barriers of well testing analysis for CO2 and hydrogen geological storage. This interdisciplinary and groundbreaking initiative is poised to enhance our cutting-edge technology for the seamless integration and repurposing of existing infrastructure on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) specifically for CCUS and hydrogen applications. Our focus includes the development of a groundbreaking well testing analysis technology, denoted as PTA, designed to optimise the injectivities of CO2 and H2 into geological storage sites, with a particular emphasis on subsea environments. The project introduces novel reactive fluid transport models tailored for both CO2 and H2 systems at a field scale, marking a pioneering approach. Accomplishing these objectives is anticipated to make a substantial contribution to the UK's net-zero targets, aligning with the broader objective of realizing a more environmentally sustainable future by 2050\.

Accurate measuring of flow in the water industry is critical to protect our vital water supply in the UK, this is the same for abstraction, treatment, and the supply of clean water to customers. To make the industry efficient and to reduce waste of resources accurate measurement technology must be installed. Using the correct flow meter in the correct application is not a straightforward task, there are many factors that can influence accuracy, one of those being the flow profile within the pipe and how disturbances upstream of the meter can cause shifts in the profile and may result in false readings. This project will create a better understanding of how these disturbances are created and the distance it takes for the disturbance to dissipate; there is an understanding in the industry, and we hope to confirm or challenge those understandings. Specifically, we will be investigating the effect on clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeters which are one of the most commonly used technologies to verify permanently installed flow meters in the water distribution networks.

A key industry challenge facing global gas producers is the accurate measurement and qualification of water in the production of gas coming from subsea reservoirs. Water can condense leading to significant pipeline corrosion leading to increased costs and emissions. Ai Exploration (AIX) has a commercial sensor that uses a novel optical absorption technique to quantify the water-cut in real time inside the pipeline. The goal of the project is to develop a novel approach that allows AIX's sensor to overcome the negative effect high levels of gas volume fraction has on their water-cut measurements. The use of the the National Engineering Laboratory's (NEL) advanced multiphase flow-loop will recreate the conditions found in real life process conditions allowing AIX to quantify and measure the success of the changes they made to their sensor during this project.

Pausetrack is an app that helps women in peri-menopause to understand their symptoms and self-care. Pausetrack can track periods and up to 25 symptoms of peri-menopause, and can also track 'interventions' or the things that women try to help themselves. We are collecting big data that we hope to use to inform better research, policy and practice. In future versions of the app when we have big data we will use AI and machine learning to understand peri-menopause and inform better care solutions. Our users are recording more symptoms then interventions and our user feedback suggests this is because women are not sure what to try to help themselves. This project aims to exploit this gap and offer a bridge between big data, clinical expertise and users by automating analysis of symptoms and interventions through the app. Users when recording a symptom can then be presented with a simple pop up displaying personalised evidence-based intervention recommendations that might work for them. For example if a user records insomnia in the app a pop-up box will appear showing 'Users like you find these \[interventions\] improved their sleep'. The user will then be offered links to try the intervention and record it in the app. Behind the scenes machine learning will look for patterns in the data we are collecting and build a database so that we can share this information with users. We will ask different health professionals (GP, Pharmacist, Nurse) to look at our data and models to check clinically they are good quality and relevant. This information will then be transferred to the database and interpreted into a format that can be used by the app to create the pop-up for users. Using clinically validated big data to make personalised self-care suggestions is a novel approach but which could have big benefits for users. It is often difficult for the public to have access to and understand good quality personalised health suggestions that could help them in their day to day lives. We hope to resolve this issue for women in peri-menopause and give them direct access to personalised solutions derived through automated research analysis.

The significance of North Sea gas production and Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) cannot be overstated, as they play critical roles in the UK's economic landscape and are integral components of the newly established British Energy Security Strategy. This strategic initiative is designed to foster energy independence while concurrently promoting low emissions. Both the gas production sector and the CCUS/decarbonisation sectors grapple with a common challenge---the necessity for precise flow assurance monitoring systems during the transportation of reactive fluids within the UK's complex gas networks. Of particular concern in these systems is the potential for water condensation, a phenomenon that poses a substantial risk by triggering pipeline corrosion and clathrate hydrate formation, ultimately leading to disruptive pipeline blockages. The financial ramifications of these issues are considerable, amounting to an estimated £20 billion annually, coupled with an associated increase in emissions. Responding to this critical challenge, Hydrafact has pioneered an innovative sensor-based technology. This cutting-edge solution employs a dual temperature control resonance frequency monitoring system, enabling the real-time detection of water condensation and clathrate hydrate formation within pipelines. In the framework of this A4I project, Hydrafact is poised to conduct a comprehensive experimental program utilising their ground-breaking ThermoQuartz ResoSense technology. The primary objectives include testing its applicability to CCUS systems, refining its accuracy, and enhancing the reliability of thermodynamic models and equations of state (EoSs) across various scenarios, including impure CO2 streams in the presence of water for CCUS applications. This project not only addresses a critical industry need but also positions Hydrafact at the forefront of innovation within the evolving energy transition market, both in the UK and globally. It marks a significant stride toward advancing the reliability and efficiency of flow assurance monitoring systems, contributing to the resilience and sustainability of the broader energy infrastructure.

Steamology was founded to commercially exploit the technology legacy of a successful landspeed world record attempt, to explore the potential of clean green renewable hydrogen steam. Steamology delivers scalable and modular solutions for industrial steam heat and power, embracing the hydrogen economy, eliminating emissions, replacing fossil fuels and fossil fuel engines. Steamology has developed an innovative hydrogen-based zero-emission steam system for steam, heat and power turbines. Its technical team has been working together for ten years on superheated steam engineering, with a focus on developing clean, energy-dense hydrogen and oxygen fuelled steam. The closed loop or open loop steam system is emission free. Combustion of hydrogen and oxygen in Steamology's steam generators creates high energy steam producing zero carbon, no NOx, no SOx or particulates in a repeatable cycle. Zero emission steam is utilised: * Industrial heating replacing fossil fuelled commercial boilers in a wide range of sectors such as laundry, distillery, Food & Beverage and pharmaceutical. * Driving an impulse turbine connected to mechanical and electrical drive applications. Exhausted steam is recycled to the steam generator. Steamology high torque turbines are compact, robust, reliable with few moving parts, suitable for static and transport applications, particularly in the power range 250kW-1MW. The patented steam generator is core technology for these large-scale decarbonisation applications. Steam quality measurement devices typically only measure saturated steam with a very low level of dry steam. Steamology steam generators rapidly deliver steam in a wide range of quality and quantity that is distinctly differently to traditional fossil fuelled boilers It is perhaps unsurprising that traditional steam measurement devices are either cumbersome sampling devices or measure only a narrow band of dryness. Steamology steam generators already operate with good performance, the team have limited means of understanding the precise quality and dryness of steam being generated across the operating range and are currently only able to infer dry and superheated steam qualities across the range of pressures capable of up to 46bar with saturated steam at ~250°C and typical superheated dry steam up to 400°C.

Deep Blue Oil & Gas Ltd. are a small engineering company specializing in product and technology development with a particular focus of the business in the onshore and offshore Oil & Gas drilling segment. This project will develop a new flow and physical property measurement solution that will be used within our solutions for drilling system applications. Our patented solutions will benefit from this measurement solution as it will remove the need for multiple skidded systems and provide a much more compact and usable solution to those currently available. The project itself will consist of initial design and development work followed by dynamic testing of the new system in applicable drilling fluids. The physical test programme shall be complemented by CFD modelling which will extrapolate the results to higher pressures and other geometries.

The project focusses on using the friction flowmeter measurement system to determine hydrogen content of blended natural gas streams. With the growing need for new decarbonised fuels, hydrogen blended with natural gas offers a stepping stone to help reduce carbon emissions (by 41 million tonnes CO2 per year) generated from domestic and industrial heating. However, with less energy provide per unit volume and a maximum allowable content of 20% by volume, hydrogen blended streams need to be costed and controlled accurately to ensure safe operation of networks and accurate billing for customers. The project aims to adapt the friction flowmeter solution to include the capability of determining hydrogen content in real-time using its existing measurement solutions and new algorithm developed during the project. The new algorithm will be a novel mathematical solution based off of new physical property data generated in a state of the art facility and a modified equation of state. The project brings innovation to the challenge through use of patented processes, new test data and the application of mathematical models in the one system.

Our innovative project emerges in response to a ground-breaking study commissioned by the UK's Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology(DSIT), projecting hydrogen emissions reaching 174kt/y by 2050 with a production of 12,000kt/y. This transformative initiative is purpose-built to tackle the pressing and costly challenge of hydrogen gas leakage, which holds increasing significance amid the UK's ambitious industrial and energy growth. Conventional off-the-shelf facilities are ill-suited to address the complexities of this unique issue. Thus, we present a revolutionary technology explicitly designed to meet the intricate demands of hydrogen gas detection and monitoring. While various "natural-gas" leak detection methods exist, they entail exorbitant CAPEX costs, frequent maintenance and repairs, and, crucially, they fall short in accurately and efficiently detecting hydrogen gas in national transmission and distribution systems. Our pioneering project focuses on adapting the world's first integrated smart technology, proficient in early gas leakage detection(visually represented) and compositional monitoring, exclusively for "Hydrogen" applications. The primary beneficiaries of this innovation will be the UK's industrial clusters and national gas networks, cornerstones of our nation's economic prosperity. To achieve this, in our previous A4I project our approach blended a multifaceted strategy: advanced thermodynamic modelling, an enhanced cloud platform for data analytics, state-of-the-art machine learning models, and a robust geographic information system(GIS). These elements combine to create an innovative early leakage detection and location identification system, offering real-time quantification of leak rates and compositional changes within the stream. Moreover, it provides valuable insights into the kinetics and transport properties of hydrogen-rich streams in transportation infrastructure. The integration of these cutting-edge features results in an unparalleled, cost-effective, and user-friendly system, seamlessly installed and operated throughout the hydrogen transmission and distribution networks' lifetime. Swiftly detecting and resolving hydrogen gas leakages, this technology saves valuable time and resources for gas distributors, effectively reducing operational expenses. The industry has faced persistent challenges in finding an effective technical solution for this pressing issue, making our integrated technology a game-changer. We firmly believe that our innovation holds the key to significantly mitigating hydrogen gas leakage identification and repair time, ushering in a new era of sustainability for gas transmission and distribution operators in the UK. In conclusion, our ground-breaking project promises to revolutionise hydrogen gas leak detection and monitoring, heralding a future of environmental responsibility and economic efficiency. We invite the UK government's support to bolster the nation's position as a global leader in sustainable energy solutions.

One of the key challenges facing industries today is to move from fossil fuels to renewable energy in an effective, fast, and least disruptive manner. In this journey, it is widely anticipated that hydrogen is going to play a critical role in the future energy mix, particularly for decarbonising heavy transport and possibly domestic/industrial heat. To decarbonise heat, one promising solution (in the short to medium term) is going to be blending hydrogen in our natural gas network (up to 20% by volume of hydrogen is currently being investigated in the UK). While this looks minimal at first, it is nevertheless a significant first step in reducing the impact of CO2 emissions from household/industrial heating, which accounts for around 40% of UK's entire carbon emission. However, measuring blended gases in energy networks presents several challenges. Addressing these challenges requires the development of advanced measurement technologies, such as specialized sensors and calibration techniques that are tailored to these unconventional gases and their blends. Hy-Met Limited has already taken the first step in addressing these challenges and has been developed an innovative core technology that uses a novel sensor and hardware design, that allows it to be fitted into existing ultrasonic smart gas meters. A further challenge lies in the determination of gas composition from blended volumes of natural gas, hydrogen, biogas/biomethane, and other unconventional gases/mixes and this project aims to develop a solution that meets this need. Hy-Met and project partners will combine our knowledge/solutions to build a unique gas energy measurement meter. This combined approach would enable our measurement solution to simultaneously measure gas flow rates (i.e., how much is going through a pipe) and accurate analysis of the composition and/or key physical properties (i.e., calorific value) of the gas mixture in real-time, overcoming the challenges associated with conventional methods while we move to complex/hybrid gas networks in the future.

It is now widely acknowledged that effectively mitigating the impacts of climate change requires a multi-faceted approach, incorporating several large-scale solutions, including innovative low-carbon energy production and storage methods. One promising low-carbon energy vector is hydrogen, offering versatile applications such as clean heating for buildings, electricity generation, and transport decarbonisation. The production of hydrogen can be achieved through two main processes: water electrolysis using renewable energy or hydrocarbon reformation coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS). These methods ensure the generation of hydrogen with significantly reduced carbon emissions, making it an environmentally responsible alternative. Moreover, hydrogen's potential extends to energy storage solutions. By storing hydrogen in geological formations, it becomes a valuable means to balance energy supply and demand, fostering sustainable energy storage capabilities. This aspect further enhances its role in supporting a greener and more sustainable energy landscape. The primary goals of this three-month project encompass two key objectives: 1. To gain UK's first HPHT experimental datasets on thermophysical properties of CO2 and Hydrogen rich streams at the storage conditions. 2. To do further assessment and optimisation of our groundbreaking technology -- Smart ResSim -- to overcome significant technical and field scale barriers of CO2 and hydrogen storage in geological formations. This multidisciplinary innovative project will focus on enhancing our pioneering technology to seamlessly integrate and reuse existing infrastructure in the UK continental shelf (UKCS) for CCS and hydrogen applications. We will develop first of its kind machine learned technology for optimisation of integrated CO2 and H2 storage in subsurface reservoirs particularly in subsea environments with unique and innovative smart reactive fluid transport models for both CO2- and H2- containing systems at field scale. By achieving these objectives, the project will contribute significantly to the UK's net zero targets, facilitating the delivery of a greener and more sustainable future by 2050\.

Our project centres on leveraging porous liquids (PL) -- advanced materials exhibiting significant promise in diverse chemical separations. PL formulations consist of a porous solid like zeolites, or MOFs, dispersed within a liquid carrier which is unable to permeate the pore. These materials offer selective adsorption and separation capacities, enabling the isolation of specific components from gas or liquid streams. This results in substantially curtailed energy consumption and heightened environmental sustainability, in comparison to traditional carbon capture methodologies. Our most advanced project involves the utilisation of PL for biogas upgrading, where it effectively removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from biogas, producing a stream of high-purity biomethane -- a renewable form of natural gas. In progressing this technology, our objective is to construct a portable PL-biogas plant operating at 150 Nm3/h, to showcase operational efficiencies over conventional carbon capture technology. Through simulations, we anticipate achieving remarkable energy savings, projected at approximately 80% when juxtaposed with conventional upgrading technologies. This advancement ensures high separation efficiency, purity, and minimal greenhouse gas emissions. To attain this goal, an imperative step involves an assessment of the materials utilised in constructing the pilot plant, considering their interaction with our chemistry. Given PL's dispersible nature and the inherent hardness of zeolites, concerns have emerged about long-term potential erosive impacts on metal components. To address this critical aspect, we will establish a collaborative partnership with the National Engineering Laboratory (NEL). This collaboration focuses on studying the erosive influence of our biogas PL on different candidate metals, particularly for plant design. The findings from this study will directly contribute to designing the plant with materials that ensure both optimal performance and cost-effectiveness. The incorporation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling will further ensure the prolonged and efficient operation of the pilot plant. This research ensures pilot plant designs prioritise affordability and asset integrity while uniting the attractive operational expenses of PL with an economical capital investment. Through our innovative approach, we aim to revolutionise biogas technology, providing a sustainable and efficient path towards a greener future.

The water treatment industry currently uses metal salt dosing (MSD) to precipitate the phosphorous into a sludge which can then be removed and disposed of. There has therefore been a massive increase in demand for ferric (the most used MS). The UK government's plan to achieve 'Net Zero' decarbonisation highlighted the need for WW operators to utilise alternative treatment processes, specifically nature-based solutions. UK WW companies are therefore creating 'nature-based solutions' portfolios. However, there is currently a shortfall in nature-based solutions that can be retrofitted into small rural sites. Microalgae are single-celled aquatic organisms that can use the energy from light to take up simple nutrients from their environment along with CO2\. When used in a controlled system, microalgae can be used to remove contaminants from WW. Industrial Phycology (I-PHYC) have developed a unique process which exploits the ability of microalgae to quickly treat wastewater of multiple contaminants to low levels. Mixing is a critical factor for achieving an efficient process in the algal systems because of its role in the distribution of light and nutrients, and diffusion of gases throughout the culture. I-Phyc currently uses aeration However, depending on the size of the process, the blowers can represent up to 34% of average operation electrical load during processing. An alternative to sparging is to provide mass transfer by mechanical mixing, potentially leading to decreased energy consumption and process complexity. In addition, to optimise the manufacturing and assembly of the I-Phyc product the contractors are recommending we move toward a _modularised_ system. This could have a high impact on the final product's quality and reduce the project cost by an estimated 20%. However, the interaction of various factors including light location, a new tank geometry, and mixing methodology make this a complex system problem. Through the support of Innovate UK's 'A4I' competition I-PHYC will collaborate with TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory, a world leading modelling facility, to generate CFD models to improve mixing and lower power requirement within the I-Phyc process, while also understanding how mixing performs in the proposed _modularised_ design. Real-time measurements and CFD will link the complex relationship between physical (mixing method), biophotonics (number of lights) and algal biology (optical density (OD)) to reduce the process energy consumption. Once a robust model is created I-PHYC can then make informed multi-layered investment decisions, allowing the I-PHYC process to establish itself has a competitive, sustainable WW process.

Labor markets & job boards around the world have not kept pace with rapid shifts in the global economy, and their inefficiencies take a heavy toll. Millions of people cannot find work, yet sectors from technology to health care cannot find people to fill open positions. For employers, traditional recruiting methods are expensive, slow, and outdated, and are not helping to connect them with the right talent swiftly. For talent, current methods (general job boards & online platforms) do not match them with job opportunities very well. AI-powered & domain-specific tech platforms have the potential to address the above inefficiencies in the labor markets and make the processes 50-100X faster, more efficient & accurate compared to the current tech. At present, there is no global tech platform addressing the above in the life sciences. **Lifelancer is building the first AI-powered platform for talent hiring & upskilling in the life sciences & related IT domains.** The project would focus on analyzing large-quality of text-based data, extracting relevant information, building scoring matrices & AI-ML modeling. The project will be done in collaboration with Digital Services group at TUV SUD National Engineering Laboratory (NEL). Digital Services group at NEL consists of highly experienced professionals, who actively work on developing, implementing, and benchmarking state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms to model & analyze large volumes of data. Supported by both world-class facilities and a state-of-the-art internal HPC cluster with over 600 cores, NEL has the computational power and technical expertise for the AI-powered analysis for the project.

Carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) and Hydrogen Production are the two most viable and immediate engineering solutions to decarbonize our planet at industrial scale towards net-zero (NZ). In addition to the current effort to build new CCUS facilities at high cost, the commercial viability of such decarbonization process could be enhanced by repurposing existing oil and gas infrastructure that have reached the end of their commercial life as part of the CO2 and H2 transport and storage networks. The same repurposing principle could also be applied for advanced asset management tools and many other equipment such as flow measurement devices for custody transfer applications. However, fluid production and transport and its custody transfer at production facilities, gathering stations, utilization facilities and sequestration (for LiqScritCO2) or storage (for LiqCryoH2) infrastructure require detail understanding of the fluid thermophysical properties. Currently, there is practically no comprehensive knowledge and understanding on rich mixture streams of LiqScritCO2 and LiqCryoH2 coming out from CO2 capture or H2 production facilities. Such comprehensive knowledge is vital to design, develop, test and productize suitable technologies to operate the CO2 and H2 network infrastructure safely and accurately. In particular, to understand and ensure its safe operations through flow assurance as well as to attract investment, transaction and taxation, accurate measurement with reduced uncertainties is crucial. This will create confidence for businesses to invest while it also allows for government subsidies or taxations to be applied uniformly and accurately. As a responsible business, OGM is investing to repurpose its ground breaking quantity measurement (flow metering) and quality measurement (mixing and sampling) devices for the CO2 and H2 economy. This project will provide OGM the highly sought after expertise from an A4I partner to develop suitable and accurate thermophysical properties or equation of state (EoS) model and its subsequent implementation as an open and portable computational library so that we can encapsulate it in the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation tools that will be developed to serve as a framework Digital-Twin for our Ultrasonic Flow Meter (UFM). The developed tools in turn will be used to optimize, validate and repurpose our UFM for the H2 and CCUS economy custody transfer metering applications. This innovative approach could be used routinely in future product development, testing and validation - faster, cheaper and with significantly smaller carbon footprint too.

To continue to support worldwide companies in achieving high accuracy measurements for fiscal applications but also to achieve the net zero target by 2050, we need to improve the accuracy of the CO2 measurement across the CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) value chain. To reduce the uncertainties in the CO2 measurement, and achieve fiscal standards, we need to overcome the challenges related to Equations of State (EoSs). Determining and using the correct EoSs adapted for CO2 mixtures will help to - determine pressure and temperature phase envelopes/boundaries with high accuracy, - select the most suitable technologies, - anticipate two phase fluid flow issues. Evaluating the performances of EoSs will also help to calculate accurate density from composition and convert volumetric flowrate to a mass flowrate with high accuracy to achieve fiscal measurement. Improving the EoS used for CO2 will help in reducing the uncertainties in the CCS measurement chain and to achieve fiscal levels of uncertainties which is important for the CCS economy and for the management of the emissions. For example: if we consider a CCS transportation facility of 6 million tons per year, let's assume a 5% uncertainty on the CO2 mass flowrate, 5% of these 6 million tons per year is leading to 300,000tons, if we assume a price of $85 per ton of CO2 this is leading to $25,500,000 per year, which means that there is around $70,000 of unaccounted measurement per day. This is highlighting that an uncertainty of 5% instead of 2.5% would lead to an over estimation or underestimation of the amount of CO2 captured, thus misrepresenting the quantity of CO2 that is captured and not emitted. Such an uncertainty is not acceptable as we need to have an accurate monitoring of the emissions to ensure that we reach the net zero by 2050\. This uncertainty has to be improved thanks to the use of correct Equation of States and this is the purpose of the project.

GM Flow manufacture an advanced flow meter for dry natural gas i.e. gas that has been processed to remove naturally occurring liquids within the gas stream. The meter has been observed by Saudi Aramco as having the potential to be developed into a wet gas meter, so it could be deployed directly onto a gas wellhead to measure the gas and associated liquids, as they are being produced and before the expensive process of drying the gas. The meter has a unique, extremely large operating flow range. By deploying the meter with new and further advanced wet gas features, Aramco plan to avoid the need to replace conventional flow meters, which cannot currently fully cover the significant reduction in gas flow rates as the wells' production naturally declines over time. By adding wet gas measurement algorithms to the meter, it becomes a very attractive proposition for Aramco and other natural gas producers. It means that our single meter will be able to remain in service, long after our competitors' meters will have become oversized and need to be replaced by smaller meters. We have undertaken a small pilot flow loop test program to test the meter with wet gas, we then field tested the meter in Saudi Arabia with promising results. A second larger flow loop test program is being sought, we wish to test the meter across wider operating flow, watercut, pressure and liquid loading ranges. This will enable our meter to qualify for a second field trial with Aramco. Aramco has many hundreds of wells where the technology can be deployed, the cost of this A4i project will produce an ROI equal to some 700 times the value of the grant awarded. The flow meter has global applicability in natural gas wells and in many pumped gas applications, so has tremendous potential for the wet gas market and in the future in Carbon Capture markets, where wet gas causes corrosion problems.

The core problem is confirming the Airgon unit's claims that continuous air and entrained gas removal improves system performance under specified test settings. Specifically proving that removing Nitrogen and Oxygen from the water system improves heat output for less fuel consumed and how this a) results in savings, b) improves the life of the boiler and system components, and c) significantly reduces unplanned maintenance. The previous versions of the device show between 15-20% improvement in heating system performance and whilst untested, notionally proves the other benefits. The challenges are that these improvements cannot currently be determined in advance, the result of which means that the accreditation criteria for a Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) are impossible to meet. The major challenge is that Building Research Establishment (BRE) have stated that they are looking to determine a means whereby performance recovery as well as simple efficiency improvements can be measured to obtain accreditation. Airgon restores wet heating systems to near optimal performance by reversing deterioration caused by the effect of dissolved gasses in the heating system water, and because all systems are unique there is no one size fits all result. Nobody we have engaged to date has shown any confidence of being able to for work with us on these objectives. None-have carried out tests of this type before with known levels of deterioration simulating a variety of common issues and measured the time taken to remove entrained gasses from an aqueous solution and record their lowest levels of saturation to determine effectiveness. There is no standard or determined methodology that can be applied to obtain these values. We can determine the levels of a given gas dissolved in water phase using Henry's Constant and measure the results pre and post installation of Airgon to determine how much of each gas has been removed. The results can then be used to determine any improvements in thermal transfer and reduction in energy consumption. However, the uncertainty of the determined values using this methodology could be quite high. Moreover, the challenge is that nobody has done it precisely and this forms the basis for the claims of the energy saving properties of our unit. Therefore, we need advanced thermodynamic studies to accurately determine the solubility of gases in the aqueous phase.

Wet gas metering plays a critical role during oil and gas production. The need for accurate measurement to support fiscal taxation reporting, allocation, and production control cannot be underestimated. For legal and regulatory reasons, meters in the field must perform within a specified uncertainty limit -- failure to achieve these targets places the operators, regulators and stakeholders under serious financial exposure. For example, a 1% measurement uncertainty in a typical wet gas meter could equate to a financial exposure of over £5M over a one-year period. Collectively, we could be talking billions of pounds of exposure in the UK gas fields alone. In terms of the technology, wet gas metering is one of the most complex and challenging forms of flow measurement. Improving the current state-of-the-art in this area continues to be a major focus and priority amongst oil and gas operators at an international level. The sector recognises the critical role accurate wet gas measurement plays in the exploitation of clean fuels to support our transition to a net zero energy mix. Ultimately the Dualstream 2 wet gas flow meter will be improved upon to expand market opportunities. Reducing the meter's optimal length, whilst widening its rangeability and operational performance, will provide industry a much more cost-effective solution to their measurement problem. Switching from laboratory flow testing to an industry-accepted simulation testing regime using CFD will provide substantial long-term cost savings for us and our users when rolled out above and beyond this project.

The project focusses on improving the accuracy of the friction flowmeter in slurry applications by incorporating a minimally intrusive acoustic sensor into the patented calculation method. This new sensor will provide an estimate of the solids content of the slurry so the impact on the measurement can be corrected. Additionally, it should provide more detailed information on the solids physical properties as well adding further insight into the process. Slurry fluids are notoriously challenging to measure flow rate accurately because of the sensitivity to changes in physical properties and solids content. Having a system that can calculate these parameters as part of the measurement, eliminates the need for separate measurements and employing separate measurement corrections -- it's all done in the one device with the friction flowmeter. Slurry type flows are expected to grow in coming years with the increasing demand of rare earth minerals used in renewable technologies as well as drilling applications for geothermal energy and carbon sequestration in underground storage reservoirs. Drilling can be a costly process, especially offshore in the North Sea where a drillship can be leased for over £2m per week for months at a time. Saving 10% of drilling time through better control and automation could save millions of pounds per year per installation which could be a huge financial stimulus for such an fledgling and important industry for the energy transition.

Wordnerds is a SaaS platform offering a unique approach to text analytics, used by large organisations to derive value from their Voice of Customer programmes. We have attracted high profile customers across the retail, transport and housing sectors through our USP of 'context themes': allowing users to train their own AI-based categories on meaning rather than keywords. As a start-up with a small team we've stayed at the cutting edge of text analytics by taking an agile approach to product development - delivering value quickly and moving on to the next feature to stay ahead of customer needs. Our context themes are unique and effective but we feel now is the time to refine the user experience of training them, to make them easier to use, measure and prove. Working with the experts at TUV SUD National Engineering Laboratory (known as NEL) we will be undertaking research and development to: * Provide externally-validated benchmark metrics for the Wordnerds categorisation technology (including the number of samples required to reach an acceptable accuracy level, so that users know when 'training' is complete; and any variation across different types of categorisation - e.g. emotional, motivational, or topical categories). * Assess the potential for alternative data science approaches to enhance our categorisation process, e.g. SeTFT architecture or an ensemble model approach, by building and testing proof of concept software. * Explore ways of illustrating category accuracy in a visually impactful way. We hope to validate and implement a combination of measures that will markedly improve the user experience and confidence of our customers. This will in turn lead to more effective use of insights from our platform, and greater return on investment.

GM Flow designed a hydrogen gas flow meter, which was flow tested in order to verify the meter's performance parameters and accuracy. The tests confirmed that the as-designed operating pressures, flow ranges and accuracy could be achieved and maintained. The meter produces a system pressure drop which is significantly less than that of rival flow meters. The project proved the design had a very sound basis for commercialisation in the growing hydrogen market. The hydrogen meters are actively being marketed and have had commercial applications on a rental basis. Within the test data generated via the flow loop testing, some specific anomalies were observed at one location within the meter's overall performance envelope. The overall performance envelope which was produced via the testing is considered to be commercially acceptable. In the interest of completeness, the specific local anomalies within the meter operating envelope must be fully investigated. This project will allow investigation and negation of the anomalies in the performance envelope, as well as testing meter component design modifications, in a detailed and comprehensive manner. Meter component design modifications incorporate new ideas to achieve the most accurate, cost effective and environmentally friendly meter design, to both manufacture and operate.

Sensor Coating Systems (SCS) provides a thermal mapping service to the power generation, jet propulsion, automotive and manufacturing industry. SCS has developed a measurement system consisting of three technical pillars: 1) Smart phosphorescent temperature memory coating 2) Tailored instrumentation 3) Fully automated robotic and digitisation system The system allows to provide high resolution thermal maps to be generated on CAD models of mission-critical components. These thermal maps enable designers to fine tune cooling arrangements and increase thermal efficiencies specifically in gas turbines. An enabling, unique technology highly valuable for the energy transition where hotter operating temperatures are needed to achieve net zero. **Context:** In a recent survey SCS established the importance of accurate temperature measurements for its clients specifically in power generation and aviation. SCS has developed this novel technology from scratch competing with traditional methods such as thermocouples, pyrometry, thermal paints and thermal crystals.SCS' technology has shown areas of higher uncertainties in specific temperature ranges using its traditional measurement approach. SCS tried to resolve this by changing the analysis method and analysing specific features of the optical spectrum of the coatings. This has shown great promise and made the technology more robust. However, the uncertainty of this novel approach can be unacceptably high at around 150°C-200°C in specific areas and needs to be brought to ±30°C. **Objective:** To this end, this project brings together SCS as technology owner, NEL as partner and machine learning expert, and UKAEA as subcontractor and spectral fitting expert to develop a computerised spectra analysis toolbox that identifies, fits and tracks changes in coating luminescence with exposure temperature. This will enable the reduction of uncertainty of the measurements to ±30°C across the temperature measurement range from 150°C - 1600°C, significantly improving the competitive advantage of the technology. **Impact:** SCS' technology has been utilised for temperature mapping services with clients in the US, Europe and Asia. SCS believes that a successful project delivering ±30°C uncertainty using the new spectral approach will accelerate the adoption of the technique worldwide in all sectors. SCS estimates that a successful project could double last year's turnover figure from £1.15m (2021). A recent large engine test in the US on 50 components has exposed all parts across a wide temperature range. 50% of components would have benefited from the proposed spectral analysis approach, making other competing technologies obsolete. Further, the number of 'early' adopters and clients will increase.

Our key message here is that based on a study undertaken for the UK's BEIS, the hydrogen emissions/lost could reach 174kt/y when its production is 12,000kt/y by 2050, and this innovative project is designed to tackle this serious and costly problem. The generic off-the-shelf facility isn't designed for this unique problem; hence our unique technology is fitted for this purpose. There are different "natural-gas" leakage detection methods in the market; however, they demand extremely high CAPEX costs, require regular maintenance and repair, and, more importantly, cannot work accurately and efficiently when hydrogen gas is entered into the national transmission and distribution systems. This project will study transforming our world's first integrated smart technology for simultaneous early gas leakage detection (visualised) and compositional monitoring into new "Hydrogen" applications, mainly for the UK's industrial clusters and national gas networks. This project will be an in-depth analysis of hydrogen gas leakage and compositional monitoring using an integration of thermodynamic modelling, improvement of a cloud platform for the data analytics processing, development of advanced ML models, and geographic information system (GIS) to really improve a novel early leakage detection and location identification system which can also quantify the leak rates and compositional changes of the stream in a real-time manner. It can also build a fundamental understanding of hydrogen-rich streams' kinetics and transport properties in transportation infrastructure. Together, these features of our technology develop a low-cost, easy to install & operate system that will last the lifetime of the hydrogen transmission and distribution networks. Early detection and repair of hydrogen gas leakages will be time-consuming and costly for gas distributors, and the industry has failed to deliver a technical solution to this problem successfully. HyCCS Tech believes this unique integrated technology could provide an elegant and cost-effective solution to this significant issue, drastically decreasing the hydrogen gas leakage identification and repair time and reducing the expenses for the gas transmission and distribution operators.

It has now been widely believed that any effectual measure for eluding the influences of climate change will need multiple large-scale solutions including new low-carbon energy production and storage. Hydrogen is a low carbon energy vector which can be employed for clean heating of buildings and generation of electricity, and transport decarbonisation. Hydrogen can be produced through a water electrolysis process using renewable energy or hydrocarbon reformation with carbon capture and storage (CCS). It can also be stored in geological formations to equilibrate energy supply and demand and enable sustainable energy storage. The main objectives of this six months project are to: - Deeply understand the technical challenges associated with the sustainable repurposing of oil & gas infrastructure, including but not limited to subsurface reservoirs, for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen applications. - Develop the innovative solutions to tackle those barriers through repurposing of our innovative technology -- Zodan Solutions' Advanced Reservoir Simulator (ResSim). In this multidisciplinary project, we will improve our first of its kind technology to facilitate the integration and reuse of existing infrastructure in the UK continental shelf (UKCS) for CCS and hydrogen applications, to enable the delivery of net zero targets by 2050\. The specific project objectives are to: 1- Develop first of its kind machine learned technology for optimisation of integrated CO2 and H2 storage in subsurface reservoirs particularly in subsea environments. 2- Develop an innovative tool and an advanced platform for determination of fluid impurities and respective influences on thermodynamic properties of CO2-/H2-rich streams. This will be greatly beneficial for tackling flow measurement, flow assurance, and geological reservoir integrity problems in the energy transition and industrial decarbonisation sectors. 3- Monitor in-vivo propagation of fronts (pressure, temperature, composition variations at interfaces, pH) as well as geochemically induced porosity and permeability alterations in presence of intricate H2 and CO2 containing fluids. 4- Unique and innovative Smart reactive fluid transport models for both CO2- and H2- containing systems at field scale.

The UK continental shelf has produced 2,635 billion cubic meters of gas since production started in the 1990's. The sector continues to be a critical component of the UK economy and energy supply generating half of the UK's gas. With the recent announcement of the UK government to accelerate homegrown power sources for greater energy independence in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine the efficient, low emission production of gas from the North Sea is a critical component to the UK's new British Energy Security Strategy. A key industry challenge facing global gas producers is the accurate measurement and qualification of water in the production of gas coming from subsea reservoirs. Ai Exploration (AIX) has a commercial sensor that uses a novel optical absorption technique to quantify the water-cut in real time inside the pipeline. The goal of the project is to better understand how the water partials are interacting with the sensor and where the water is located in the pipe under different process conditions. The use of the the National Engineering Laboratory's (NEL) advanced multiphase flow-loop will recreate the conditions found in real life process conditions allowing AIX to better understand the behaviour of the water and adapt their current sensor to extend the measurement range and capability.

no public description

Europe must make reductions in CO2 emissions in order to meet stringent reduction targets related to global warming. Carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) can be used to remove the CO2 produced by industrial processes for storage either underground or locked in an alternative material. It is versatile, in the sense that the CO2 removal step can complement any process e. g. production of power, fuels, chemicals and heating. In order to facilitate efficient and safe usage of this technology across Europe and to support the CCUS industry, this project will address key measurement challenges related to flow metering, emissions monitoring, chemical metrology and the physical properties of CO2

The project focusses on improving the accuracy of the friction flowmeter in high viscosity fluid applications by incorporating a higher accuracy sensor into the patented calculation method. This new sensor will help to reduce the overall measurement uncertainty of the 4-in-1 measurements system and will provide a higher accuracy for flow, density and viscosity in the one-meter body. High viscosity fluids are notoriously challenging to measure flow rate accurately because of the sensitivity to changes in physical properties. Having a system that can calculate these parameters as part of the measurement, eliminates the need for separate measurements and employing separate measurement corrections -- its all done in the one device with the friction flowmeter. This project will improve the accuracy and reduce uncertainty in these parameters.

The EU Green Deal sets ambitious targets for the transformation towards a climate neutral continent. Hydrogen plays a key role as an energy in this ambition, yet the metrological infrastructure to support the entire hydrogen supply chain is underdeveloped. This project will focus on key aspects of determining quality and quantity of hydrogen, monitoring and regulatory conformity, providing the necessary measurement standards, methods, models and best practices for the production, storage, transmission, and distribution of hydrogen.

This project accelerates the enhancement of a flow surveillance system called A-EYE to allow it to measure CO2 flows. With the need to prevent a 1.5C increase in global temperatures, carbon capture and storage will be a vital industry and is expected to sequester 10 giggatonnes of CO2 by 2050\. Being able to accurately and efficiently measure the flow of captured CO2 will be crucial to safe and effective carbon capture and storage A-EYE has been developed by Exnics to determining complex flow conditions inside pipes in an entirely non-intrusive manner for the oil & gas industry, by combining several technologies including lasers and machine learning methods. In partnership with NEL, this project will allow Exnics to train it's A-EYE technology to "underdstand" CO2 flows using comparable fluids which at ambient temperature and pressure show similar thermophysical properties to CO2 flows expected in industrial CCUS applications.

In the transition to a net zero-emission energy system, hydrogen will play a major role in a smart combination with other energy vertical. The use of pure hydrogen & blends with natural-gas/bio-gas is a very attractive proposition in decarbonising heat as is the use of fuel grade hydrogen for decarbonising transport, particularly for difficult to decarbonise sectors such as heavy transport (air, marine, rail, & heavy road vehicles). However, there are many challenges (both technical and commercial) that need to tackled to establish a well-developed energy infrastructure for hydrogen, from production to distribution, storage and end-use, to fully benefit from this transition. Established in January 2021, Hy-Met Limited is an innovative deep-tech company that aims to tackle complex energy measurement challenges. Our vision is to support the emerging and future energy sectors to bring clean, sustainable, & affordable energy to all, by our advanced hydrogen measurement platform that combines state-of-the-art instrument hardware with bespoke analysis software. Taking Hy-Met's existing core metering technology and testing its performance thoroughly in a range of gases (including pure hydrogen and various methane/hydrogen/nitrogen blends) at a highly accurate/traceable test facility such as NEL is critical to perform further design/parameter optimisation for safe, accurate and reliable operation in these future energy gases.

New legislation has highlighted the need for nutrients, such as phosphorous, in wastewater (WW) discharges to be reduced to protect our environment. The water treatment industry currently uses metal salt dosing (MSD) to precipitate the phosphorous into a sludge which can then be removed and disposed of. There has therefore been a massive increase in demand for ferric (the most used MS). Current forecasts predict there will be a 30% shortfall in supply of ferric by 2025\. In addition, supply chain issues are furtherexacerbated byeffects of Brexit and COVID 19\. Therefore, alternative nonchemical solutions for P removal are anattractive proposition and are being widely trialled byUK water. Microalgae are single-celled aquatic organisms that can use the energy from light to take up simple nutrients from their environment along with CO2\. When used in a controlled system, microalgae can be used to remove contaminants from WW. Algae can also remove other hazardous substances e.g. heavy metals, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, effectively cleaning the water. Through the support of Innovate UK's 'A4I' competition I-PHYC collaborated with the National Physical Laboratory and TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory, world leading modelling facilities. A4I, Stage 1 demonstrated that the CFD models are reliable and can help in decision making for improved performance: * Adaptations of light spectrum and mixing method significantly increased the biomass supported within the ABR without increasing process energy consumption. The biomass yield from the same reactor with 5 submerged lights increased by 124% * The highest yields were achieved with the addition of vertical sparging arms (long pipes with 1mm holes along their length, used here as a method of injecting air into the tank to promote mixing of the algae) However, when installed in real world wastewater treatment works the 1mm holes along the mixing arm quickly became blocked with filamentous bacteria. Disc or tube diffusers are used within 'dirty' wastewater applications -- such as mixing sludge tanks. These systems use advanced materials and antifouling coatings to reduce fouling. Some membranes have been designed to deflate when the process stops, closing the holes. Stage 2 of A4I will use the adapted models to determine the ideal locations and diffuser type for the ABR within variable wastewater environments (solids and bacterial loads). Once a robust model is created I-PHYC can then make informed multi-layered investment decisions, allowing the I-PHYC process to establish itself has a competitive, sustainable WW process

A collaborative project between RheEnergise and the National Engineering Laboratory. RheEnergise are developing a technological solution where a high-density-fluid (2.5x the density of water, about the density of concrete) can be used in pumped energy-storage applications, increasing both the power and energy densities of pumped energy-storage projects. The high-density-fluid means that sites can be found in locations with lower elevations (~9,500 in the UK alone) and that civil engineering work is also reduced by 2.5x. Projects are closed loop and can therefore be located in any climate, including deserts. The project seeks to identify how the high-density-fluid affects the long-term operation and reliability of valves used in traditional pumped energy-storage applications. How maintenance costs can be minimised through understanding of fluid-flow characteristics through valves, in particular areas of static flow, (eg. trunnions). The potential opportunity is for RheEnergise (and other UK businesses in the supply-chain) to capture a large percentage (perhaps 10%) of the total predicted global energy-storage and system-flexibility market, using a gravitational/ mechanical solution rather than solely relying on emerging battery technologies for future system-flexibility. RheEnergise has identified the need to undertake this research work to address the huge potential market for system-flexibility: Aurora-Energy-Research forecast a £6bn requirement, in the UK alone, for 13GW of new flexible assets (2030). Bloomberg-NEF predict a global energy-storage market worth \>$600bn (2050). This projects goal is to enable a 10% increase in operational and cost efficiencies that in-turn enables RheEnergise to reach its goal of ~10% global market share, meaning ~$6bn of direct benefits to the UK economy, driven by a UK innovator company. The Committee-on-Climate-Change, National-Grid, Energy-UK, IPPR and many other commentators all state that energy-storage is the enabler required to achieve a net-zero carbon energy-system. Parts of the world have already demonstrated that renewable energy plus storage is cheaper than coal, nuclear and even gas. RWE has abandoned new coal development in Germany. Off-shore wind contracts are now <£40.00/MWh in UK and France. On-shore wind and solarPV in many locations globally is contacted ~£30.00/MWh. RheEnergise's GIS analysis shows ~9,500 UK site opportunities, ~80,000 Europe (ex. Nordics), ~160,000 Africa. At an average project size of 20MW/80MWh, only 350 UK sites would be required to provide 50% of Aurora's predicted 'need' for the UK's 2030 market. The numbers of wind-power and solarPV installations seen in the the last decade shows that the construction of 350 sites in a decade is entirely achievable.

A collaborative project between RheEnergise and the National Engineering Laboratory.RheEnergise are developing a technological solution where a high-density-fluid (2.5x the density of water, about the density of concrete) can be used in pumped energy-storage applications, increasing both the power and energy densities of pumped energy-storage projects. The high-density-fluid means that sites can be found in locations with lower elevations (~9,500 in the UK alone) and that civil engineering work is also reduced by 2.5x. Projects are closed loop and can therefore be located in any climate, including deserts.The project seeks to identify how ultra-high efficiencies (~96% mechanically) can be maintained with the high-density-fluid and how operational and maintenance costs can be minimised through both a breadth and depth of understanding of fluid-flow characteristics through turbo-machinery.The potential opportunity is for RheEnergise (and other UK businesses in the supply-chain) to capture a large percentage (perhaps 10%) of the total global predicted energy-storage and system-flexibility market, using a gravitational/ mechanical solution rather than solely relying on emerging battery technologies for future system-flexibility.RheEnergise has identified the need to undertake this research work to address the huge potential market for system-flexibility:Aurora-Energy-Research forecast a £6bn requirement, in the UK alone, for 13GW of new flexible assets by 2030, and Bloomberg-NEF predict a global energy-storage market worth \>$600bn by 2050\.This projects goal is to enable a 10% increase in operational and cost efficiencies that in-turn enables RheEnergise to reach its goal of ~10% global market share, meaning ~$6bn of direct benefits to the UK economy, driven by a UK innovator company.The Committee-on-Climate-Change, National-Grid, Energy-UK, IPPR and many other commentators all state that energy-storage is the enabler required to achieve a net-zero carbon energy-system.Parts of the world have already demonstrated that renewable energy plus storage is cheaper than coal, nuclear and even gas. RWE has abandoned new coal development in Germany. Off-shore wind contracts are now <£40.00/MWh in UK and France. On-shore wind and solarPV in many locations globally is contacted ~£30.00/MWh.RheEnergise's GIS analysis shows ~9,500 UK site opportunities, ~80,000 Europe (ex. Nordics), ~160,000 Africa.At an average project size of 20MW/80MWh, only 350 UK sites would be required to provide 50% of Aurora's predicted 'need' for the UK's 2030 market. The numbers of wind-power and solarPV installations seen in the the last decade shows that the construction of 350 sites in a decade is entirely achievable.

New legislation has highlighted the need for nutrients, such as phosphorous, in wastewater (WW) discharges to be reduced to protect our environment. The water treatment industry currently uses metal salt dosing (MSD) to precipitate the phosphorous into a sludge which can then be removed and disposed of. However, this method has numerous drawbacks such as requiring hazardous chemicals for pH balancing, producing large volumes of waste, and being unsustainable. Therefore, many WW operators do not see MSD as a viable treatment method to meet new legislation. Microalgae are single-celled aquatic organisms that can use the energy from light to take up simple nutrients from their environment along with CO2. When used in a controlled system, microalgae can be used to remove contaminants from WW. Algae can also remove other hazardous substances e.g. heavy metals, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, effectively cleaning the water. Industrial-Phycology (I-PHYC) has developed a new technology based on the industrial application of microalgae for the sustainable and environmentally friendly treatment of WW. I-PHYC's process is a modern, modular system, which can treat WW to meet current and future legislation. The process is weather and sun independent, ensuring year-round consistent water treatment. The unique design allows the process to be applied to a variety of water treatment sites. I-PHYC's current demonstration process at Weston-Super-Mare is the largest algal process in the UK. During the development of this facility there has been considerable interest from the WW sector. However, it has been highlighted that this process would not be adopted until the energy consumption is reduced to <25 Kw/h. I-PHYC has identified several areas where energy use could be reduced without impacting performance. However, to optimise our units using traditional scientific methods would require hundreds of hours of labour and significant investment, while not fully accounting for the complexity of the variables. Support though 'A4I' has connected I-PHYC with the National Physical Laboratory and National Engineering Laboratory, world leading modelling facilities. They will create advanced models of our technology, which will allow I-PHYC to understand how the optimal combination of mixing method, and lighting dispersion can be utilised to reduce energy consumption. The ideal model scenario can be tested in our unique testing facilities and the data gained fed-back into the NPL model. Once a robust model is created I-PHYC can then make informed multi-layered investment decisions, allowing the I-PHYC process to establish itself has a competitive, sustainable WW process.Awaiting Public Project Summary

The Oil and Gas (O&G) industry has a rapidly growing problem with leak detection, security breaches and the prevention of incidents. These incidents affect global prices, oil and gas supply and cause long lasting and highly destructive damage to the environment and the lives of those who live and work near these pipelines. From 2010-14 in Europe, multiple oil spillages averaged in excess of 397m3 of crude oil per year, with some exceeding 1000 m3 (https://www.concawe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Spillage-descriptions-2005-2016.pdf). The estimated cost of oil clean up alone (exclusive of fines etc) was €14 per gallon, making the average cost per incident in the region of EU €1.23 million. These numbers are increasing annually and represent a significant threat to the public, environment and critical infrastructure security. Water Utilities are losing over 20% of their water supply through leakages. They are not only losing a precious resource in clean water, but leakages are also affecting consumers with higher prices. This is compounded by reduced profits as a result of lost revenue. Moreover, significant fines imposed by Ofwat for missing leak targets further negatively affect their bottom-line. This project seeks to thoroughly test the accuracy, stability and reliability of the pipeline monitoring solution. The DASHBOARD system will result in a step change in pipeline leak monitoring by facilitating the identification of leaks on oil and gas pipelines in near real-time. This will enable predictive infrastructure maintenance and enhance asset management. DASHBOARD combines innovative hardware and software, capitalising on the power of transformational data collection, communication, analysis and visualisation. The DASHBOARD solution is a high value proposition for O&G and water companies and society as a whole with the following benefits: (1) Continuous pipeline monitoring and visualisation with real time alerts ensuring uninterrupted supply of O&G. (2) Greatly improved detection rates. (3) An estimated 20% reduction in operation and maintenance costs due to reduced call outs for leaks. (4) A retrofittable hardware device with an estimated lifecycle of 10+ years. (5) Reduced environmental impacts due to reduced hydrocarbon leaks. (6) Reduced wastage of an important resource in desalinated water. We expect the project to result in improved operation of the DASHBOARD solution and a wider application scope. In the long-term, the project would result in job creation within the UK.

.

Tribosonics is an innovation-led company located and forged in Sheffield, United Kingdom. It drives transformation by using its unique ultrasonic sensing technologies to address challenges in tribological contacts (wear, friction and lubrication). Using its unique Technology Stack, it provides data of unmatched information density at an embedded component level with core measurement competencies in stress, lubricant film thickness, wear, fluid properties, contact pressure and non-destructive testing. Tribosonics have developed a pump monitoring system using their ultrasonic measurement technology. Tribosonics' existing monitoring product, the BD002, works very well for situations where there is almost pure gas or pure liquid. However, in-field applications, the fluid flow inside the pump may be considerably more complex and Tribosonics are currently unable to accurately interpret measurements achieved outside the situations of almost pure gas or pure liquid. Improving the current product through improved signal processing as a result of carrying out this project and correlating our measurements with measurements of the various states in the pump will result in several benefits including reduction in time spent commissioning the product, reduction in time spent by in-house engineers supporting field engineers, an increase in the number of products sold due to improved capabilities and improved processes due to better monitoring technology. Additionally, and significantly, improving the measurement science will open up new opportunities in new markets, especially in fluid process monitoring.

Enhancement and Development of K Factor calculations used with McMenon Averaging Pitot Tubes using CFD modelling and flow rig confirmation on a wide range of fluids at significantly varying Reynolds numbers McMenon Engineering Services employs over sixty people in the West Cumbrian town of Workington. The company is focused on the design, manufacture and supply of measuring instrumentation for the process industries and exports products worldwide. Averaging Pitot tubes are a significant part of the company's product portfolio providing much needed employment in this post-industrial region. The devices offer many advantages to end users, but they can be further improved upon by better understanding their performance in a wider range of applications. Currently, the performance of Averaging Pitot tubes has been verified through limited test work and calibrations. In some applications where traceable calibrations are either unavailable or too numerous to complete, there is some evidence of errors. Providing a more detailed, traceable and robust estimation of the calibration factor over the entire operating range will provide a much more reliable device with an improved accuracy for our customers. McMenon Engineering services will be able to increase the confidence of customers in the solution offered and generate increased business; bringing valuable export orders and sustaining a highly motivated and high value workforce in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria.

Smartflow Couplings are a small team of mechanical engineers with experience in industrial coupling design, for oil & gas, chemical sectors in particular. They have been trading a variation of their range of products over the past 3 years and gradually building up to a good level of business. They have invested in product development in these past 3 years and are now ready to launch the remaining products from this range with a further 9 products. The products are dry break couplings used to prevent spills on industrial sites. Therefore there needs to be a level of trust from the end client, as they are used for health and safety and environmental reasons. A project collaborating with NEL and NPL will enhance credibility in the marketplace. This project will be able to replicate the tough conditions seen in the industry, and the couplings' performance analysed during elevated parameters in week long tests. NPL will determine the wear characteristics of the critical moving parts within the couplings, helping identify life expectancy and service interval recommendations.

Optimisation and understanding of multiphase flow is a critical area of focus for the Oil & Gas sector. Currently, multiple wells are aggregated and measured through a test separator. This traditional technique is slow, expensive, gives incomplete and often inaccurate data. To address these shortcomings, in recent years there has been a shift towards the adoption of multiphase flow metering. However, the multiphase systems available today are extremely expensive and lack the required accuracy and flexibility across changing flow regimes. AI Exploration is developing the first low cost, accurate, flexible multiphase flow metering platform. We are set to disrupt the Oil & Gas industry by delivering impactful, real time production optimisation and oil-field diagnostics powered by Artificial Intelligence and our Big-Data infrastructure. Through this formal collaboration the consortium will use machine learning to extend the capabilities of AI Exploration's current multiphase measurement system.

"This project accelerates the performance gains of a flow surveillance system called A-Eye. By combining several technologies including lasers and machine learning methods Exnics Ltd have created a flow surveillance system that is capable of determining complex flow conditions inside pipes in an entirely non-intrusive manner. This technology has been demonstrated to work across a wide range of flow conditions within a given envelope of applications. This project will seek to expand that envelope of applications to include large scale industrial pipe sizes such as those found in the upstream oil and gas industry. This project will allow Exnics to measure and collect a large set of data that very closely represents high value commercial and industrial applications found in the UK economy. Exnics will use this dataset to pursue advances in the performance and functionality of the system that allow the system to deliver increasing benefits to our industrial partners and thus create greater value to the UK economy. This project will accelerate the technological reach of the technology and demonstrate the ability of the technology to monitor and analyse flow conditions in a broader range of applications."

"The oil and gas (O&G) industry has a rapidly growing problem with leak detection, security breaches and the prevention of incidents. These incidents affect global prices, oil and gas supply and cause long lasting and highly destructive damage to the environment and the lives of those who live and work near these pipelines. From 2010-14 in the EU, an oil spill incident saw spillages of 289m3 on average of crude oil, with multiple spillages exceeding 1000 m3 (Concawe 2016), with the estimated cost of oil clean up alone (exclusive of fines etc) was €14 per gallon, making the average cost per incident in the EU €0.86 million. (http://bit.ly/2nEHX4c). These numbers are increasing annually and represent a significant threat to the public, environment and critical infrastructure security. Utilities are losing over 20% of their water supply through leakages. Water companies are not only losing a precious resource in clean water, but leakages are also affecting consumers with higher prices for water. Companies also have reduced profits due to lost revenue. Moreover, significant fines imposed by Ofwat for missing leak targets further negatively affect their bottom-line. This project seeks to thoroughly test Limpet, an effective pipeline monitoring solution that is accurate, stable and reliable across a complete technology stack. The system will result in a step change in pipeline leak monitoring as it will facilitate the identification of all sized leaks on O&G pipelines near real-time, enhancing asset management. Limpet combines innovative hardware and software, capitalising on the power of transformational data collection, communication, analysis and visualisation. The Limpet solution is a high value proposition for O&G and water companies and society as a whole with the following benefits: (1) Continuous pipeline monitoring and visualisation with real time alerts ensuring uninterrupted supply of O&G. (2) Greatly improved detection rates of 99+%. (3) An estimated 20% reduction in operation and maintenance costs due to reduced call outs for leaks. (4) A retrofittable hardware device with an estimated lifecycle of 10+ years. (5) Reduced environmental impacts due to reduced hydrocarbon leaks. (6) Reduced wastage of an important resource in desalinated water. We expect the project to result in the timely commercialisation of the Limpet solution. In the long-term, the project will result in job creation within the UK and globally (however Dashboard will always remain headquartered in the UK). We envisage hiring cumulatively over 85 FTEs in the 5 years after Limpet's market launch."

Perfusion represents the amount of arterial blood delivered to an organ, and is of clinical importance for dementia, stroke, cerebrovascular disease, and cancer. It can be measured by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) using a technique known as Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL). ASL provides images in which every pixel has a given value; however, due to the lack of an existing device allowing to simulate what happens in the body, ASL has not yet seen a major clinical uptake, despite its advantages over other techniques. We have developed a product which can be used to calibrate ASL images, in which every pixel is guaranteed to have the proper value. Such a product would allow radiologists to use ASL as a clinical tool for diagnosis; however, in order for this to happen, we need to understand the uncertainties that apply to our own organ model, and how precisely MRI can measure perfusion. This project will be in partnership with NPL and NEL, using NPL’s expertise in mathematical modelling, in particular in evaluating the uncertainty in both our model and the MRI measurements, and NEL’s expertise in simulation of fluid velocities. Through this collaboration, we hope to further develop our device and allow our product to have positive impact on radiology worldwide.

To embed multi-platform software development, database management and user interface expertise to develop the next generation of the Physical Properties Database Software

No abstract available.

Awaiting Public Summary

Awaiting Public Summary