Occasionally scientists develop an invention that turns out to have far more applications than originally thought. The Research and Development Center (R&DC) has built a truly unique instrument designed to identify oil by using a laser. The laser is used to excite the fluorescence spectra of oil within extremely short time frames - two to five nanoseconds. All the fluorescence data is coalesced, and two dimensional diagrams are produced, which serve as oil spectral fingerprints. Ezzat M. Hegazi, senior research scientist and activity leader for designing and building the instrument, is very proud of the device. “The system is based on two previous patents and three recently submitted invention disclosures, and it was designed and produced in Saudi Aramco's R&DC, which in itself has garnered many new patents for new systems and concepts.” He added, “We developed a truly unique, multipurpose laser instrument that is robust enough for field applications. It is easily transportable as is, but we're also working on a remote sensing version that can be used in helicopters to detect and identify oil spills and seepage into water.” --MORE
