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New technology for detection of greenhouse gases
28.10.2008
New European consortium, led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, is developing a miniature gas sensor to detect greenhouse gases. The sensor will also be able to detect explosives vapours and chemical agents such as nerve gases, when integrated in homeland security sensor systems. Moreover, it could have broader consumer benefits such as improved air conditioning in buildings.
The European Union is funding 2.8m Euro for a project called MINIGAS to
develop a tiny, super-sensitive and cost effective gas sensor. The MINIGAS
sensor will be less than 2 centimetres in length and at least twice as
sensitive as other sensors of its size.
The
MINIGAS consortium brings together world-leading institutes and multinational
companies from across Europe. VTT leads the programme, with the core
photo-acoustic gas sensing technology also coming from Finland via Gasera, a
spin-out company from the University of Turku. The Loffe Institute in Russia
provides Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology and QinetiQ brings its
miniaturisation expertise in addition to leading on exploitation.
Two
other multinational companies complete the team – Doble to market the sensor
for greenhouse gas applications and Selex to sell MINIGAS to homeland security
markets.
The MINIGAS project is funded through the European
Union's Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). Markus Korn, the European
Commission's Project Officer responsible for the project said: "This project
will create new hi-tech jobs in Europe in this rapidly growing market."
Ismo
Kauppinen, Gasera CEO, said: "High-sensitivity gas sensors could play a key
role in monitoring the presence of pollutants in the environment, but need to
be smaller, cheaper and more effective."