News
Busy weeks at SINTEF
Written on august 28 2025
Summer passed quickly, and our office and lab have been bristling with activity for the last couple of weeks.
In August, Nicoustic and Fraunhofer IKTS teams have been busy setting up and running a series of trials at the SINTEF Multiphase Flow Laboratory in Trondheim (Norway). The aim has been to produce stable emulsions of different kinds in a test separator tank and measure them using our novel non-intrusive ultrasound sensors. An intrusive nucleonic profiler was used as a reference.
Emulsions are tricky not only to deal with offshore, but also to produce in a lab. There are different kinds of emulsions (oil-continuous and water-continuous), emulsions can also be too unstable or too stable for useful and efficient lab measurements. We are lucky to have excellent R&D facilities provided by SINTEF Industry close to our office and top ultrasound competence from the Fraunhofer Institute to aid our own experts.
After this feasibility study we will be able to plan the next step and carry out the R&D necessary to run the first non-intrusive emulsion measurement pilots with our system offshore.
This research has been made possible due to generous grants from The Research Council of Norway and Innovation Norway as well as support from our JIP partners OKEA, Equinor, ConocoPhillips, Aker BP, Vår Energi and Petrobras.
