Systems and methods for the identification of compounds using admittance spectroscopy

Abstract

Described herein are systems and methods for determining the location, composition and concentration of a hydrocarbon containing plume in environmental seawater. These systems and methods disclosed use multiple complex admittance measurements from seawater in order to identify the contents, concentration, and location of the hydrocarbon containing plume. In preferred variations system includes a sensor array that substantially simultaneously records plume location, depth, and composition.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for making down hole oil well measurements and determining the identity of a components including at least one of water, saline, methane and oil content by admittance spectroscopy, the system comprising:
 a sensor comprising a plurality of electrodes having fluid-contacting surfaces;   a signal generator configured to provide electrical stimulation at a plurality of frequencies for application from the fluid-contacting surfaces of the sensor;   a processor configured to receive complex admittance data from the sensor at the plurality of frequencies and to determine the identity, concentration, or the identity and concentration of one or more compounds in the solution by comparing the complex admittance data to a library of predetermined complex admittance data.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the fluid-contacting surfaces of the electrodes of the sensor are formed of a plurality of different materials. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the fluid-contacting surfaces of the electrodes of the sensor are formed of a plurality of different geometries. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises at least three different fluid-contacting surfaces formed of different materials, different size or different materials and geometries. 
     
     
         5 . The systems of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to be single-use. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor comprises recognition logic configured to determine the likeliest match between the complex admittance data received from the sensor and the library of predetermined complex admittance data; wherein the recognition logic comprises an adaptive neural network trained on the library of predetermined complex admittance data. 
     
     
         7 . A system for monitoring an closed loop control of food and chemical manufacturing using admittance spectroscopy, the system comprising:
 a sensor comprising a plurality of electrodes having fluid-contacting surfaces;   a signal generator configured to provide current at a plurality of frequencies for application from one or more fluid-contacting surfaces of the sensor;   a signal receiver configured to receive complex admittance data from one or more fluid-contacting surfaces of the sensor;   a controller configured to coordinate the application of signals from the signal generator and the acquisition of complex admittance data from the sensor to create an admittance spectrographic fingerprint of the solution; and   a processor configured to receive the admittance spectrographic fingerprint and to determine the identity, concentration or identity and concentration of the solution by comparing the admittance spectrographic fingerprint to a library of admittance spectrographic data comprising complex admittance data measured from a plurality of known compounds and mixtures of compounds in a carrier solution at a plurality of frequencies and known concentrations.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the fluid-contacting surfaces of the electrodes of the sensor are formed of a plurality of different materials. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the fluid-contacting surfaces of the electrodes of the sensor are formed of a plurality of different geometries. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the sensor comprises at least three different fluid-contacting surfaces formed of different materials, different geometries or different materials and geometries.