U of T Engineering Professor Develops Microfluidic Chips for Bitumen Gas Analysis
*Device could save time and money for oil/gas industry*
Mechanical engineering professor David Sinton and his research team have developed a process to analyze the behaviour of bitumen in reservoirs using a microfluidic chip, a tool commonly associated with the field of medical diagnostics. The process may reduce the cost and time of analyzing bitumen-gas interaction in heavy oil and bitumen reservoirs.
Sinton and post-doctoral researcher Hossein Fadaei are using the chips to examine the way highly pressurized carbon dioxide (CO2) behaves when injected into bitumen, which is a type of petroleum. The new method, reported in the journal Energy & Fuels, could streamline the way fossil energy companies measure how gases move within heavier oils like bitumen. (more…)