On June 16, 2020, the Young Pipeliners Association of Canada (YPAC) Edmonton Chapter hosted Interface Fluidics for a fantastic webinar titled, “Inside the Alberta Energy Industry with Interface Fluidics”. During the webinar, Interface Fluidics Chief Operating Officer, Tom de Haas, and Senior Project Engineer, Sourabh Ahitan, presented on how the Alberta based company is innovatively applying microfluidic technology within the energy and pipeline sectors.
Some highlighted event learnings are noted below:
- Microfluidics is the technology of fluid manipulation in channels that are micron level in size.
- The small scale of microfluidics make for an efficient and effective means to complete data analysis as processes are predictable, easy to work with and less time is needed to reach equilibrium.
- Currently, most microfluidic commercialization is focused in the health care sector. The energy and pipeline sectors represent a burgeoning space for further technology development and industrial adoption.
- There are a variety of analyses possible to use microfluidics with operational troubleshooting in the pipeline space, and include testing for gas hydrates, waxes and asphaltenes.
- When a launching technology focused start-up, the presenters shared the importance of being solution focused when explaining the work to potential customers.
A huge thanks to Interface Fluidics and the webinar participants for joining the event!
About Interface Fluidics:
- Interface Fluidics is a technology-enabled oil and gas laboratory services company that provides high-pressure fluid testing and analysis for the oil and gas industry. Interface’s suite of testing is done on their proprietary microfluidic and nanofluidic platform. Interface was founded in 2015, is headquartered in Calgary, and has laboratory operations based in Edmonton. Learn more about Interface Fluidics at: https://interfacefluidics.com/
About the Speakers:
Tom de Haas, COO and Co-Founder
- Tom de Haas received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Victoria in 2010 and his masters degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toronto in 2013. His masters work focused on the application of microfluidics for the energy sector including SAGD and carbon sequestration. After graduating Tom was a reservoir engineer at Suncor Energy in their Subsurface New Technology group where he worked on development of multiple new technologies including a pilot of microwave-based bitumen extraction. In 2016 Tom, Stuart Kinnear, and David Sinton, started Interface Fluidics with the goal of making fluid measurement under extreme conditions more accessible.
Sourabh Ahitan, Senior Project Engineer
- Sourabh Ahitan completed his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Nirma University, India, in 2011 and his master’s degree focused on petroleum thermodynamics in chemical engineering from the University of Alberta in 2016. His research field during MSc was fluid phase behavior measurement and modeling of hydrocarbon mixtures. He has over 6 years of work experience in the oil and gas industry, that includes 3 years of process engineering experience in the upstream offshore oil & gas sector and over 3 years of petroleum laboratory experience. As a senior project engineer at Interface Fluidics, Sourabh leads projects focused on PVT.