Offshore staff
(UK)- EV Offshore Ltd. has introduced a subsea camera module especially developed to detect the dispersible red trace dyes currently being used by leak detection specialists to identify leaks in wellheads, pipelines, platforms, and gas storage facilities.
Although its use is not yet restricted, the UK Department of Trade and Industry frowns upon the use of fluoresceine, which currently carries a substitution warning because it is slow to biodegrade.
However, by 2020, it is likely that industrial chemicals carrying a substitution warning will not be allowed to be discharged in the UKCS, and limits on quantities being discharged have already been tabled.
In response, a safe alternative has been widely sought after by the oil and gas industry, which has been struggling to come up with a suitable replacement dye with which to run these critical leak detection tests.
An environmentally friendly red trace dye that biodegrades rapidly has been developed to assist in detecting leaks.
In order to visually detect this red trace dye, EV Offshore has developed a camera inspection system called the EVO-SL60HT.
The camera is designed to interact with the specific color, or wavelength of light, that the red trace dye emits when it is released into the sea.
The system is fitted with integrated green LEDs that excite the dye, so there is no need for additional external lamps.
The camera's special optical filters optimize visible spectrum performance.
Leak inspection field trials in the North Sea on behalf of a major operator are nearing completion.
It is anticipated that the system will be used to detect leaks at depths to 1 km.
Following these field trials, EV Offshore will be carrying out leak detection operations in the North Sea for a number of operators.
03/03/06
