Direct Absorption Spectroscopy Research Articles

High-sensitive double incidence multi-pass cell for trace gas detection based on TDLAS

A high-precision gas detection system with a dual-incidence multi-pass cell (D-MPC) based on TDLAS was developed, which can simultaneously measure quadruple component gases. Two Distributed Feedback (DBF) Laser Diodes with central wavelength of 1654 nm and 2004 nm were utilized to measure methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) for evaluating the performance of the system. High sensitivity and low frequency drift were accomplished by utilizing the second harmonic signals (WMS-2f) detection and peak-locking technology. A LabVIEW-based control and acquisition program, which could be used for direct absorption and wavelength modulation, was developed. Kalman adaptive filtering, Least Mean Squares (LMS) adaptive filtering and S-G filtering were employed for denoising in direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS), respectively, and optimal denoising technology of S-G filtering was selected. According to Allan deviation analysis, the optimal detection precision for CH4 and CO2 was 12 ppb at an integration time of 36 s and 270 ppb at an integration time of 43 s, respectively. A two-day continuous monitoring of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 was implemented to verify the system stability and can be applied to other trace gases monitoring.

Uncertainty quantification for high-temperature flame sensing using wavelength modulation spectroscopy

In this study, we explore the uncertainty of the wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) technique applied to water profile measurement in a flat flame. The scanned WMS-2f/1f method is used to measure the water profile in a C2H4-O2-Ar flame, using an absorption transition line near 1391.7 nm. The Monte Carlo sampling method is used for the uncertainty quantification (UQ) analysis. The results show a non-negligible uncertainty on the water concentration with an uncertainty range from 10% to 30%, depending on the uncertainty level considered for the input parameters of the spectroscopic model. Further sensitivity analyses show that the lower state energy (E′′), the line strength, and the temperature are the most important uncertainty sources. When multiple transition lines are involved, the line strength value controls the overall influence of the other parameters associated with these specific lines. We also compared the uncertainty obtained when applying the direct absorption spectroscopy (DA) and WMS techniques for a similar flame configuration. Only a slight advantage is observed for the WMS.

Particles influence on the direct absorption spectroscopy of TDLAS

Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) technology is widely used for monitoring the gas pollutants. But in actual measurement environments, there are usually particles, which will affect the TDLAS direct absorption spectroscopy. In this paper, the influence of particles on the direct absorption spectroscopy of TDLAS was analyzed by using TDLAS-DAS technology combined with particle extinction method. According to analysis, it was found that the presence of particles does not affect the gas characteristic absorption spectral line strength and the gas absorption spectroscopy broadening, but it does affect the output laser intensity and absorbance received by the detector. The transmittance of particles can be obtained through the slope of the output laser intensity, which can be used to correct the absorbance to achieve accurate measurement of gas concentration. This paper analyzed the effects of particle size, incident wavelength, and composition on particle extinction coefficient and obtained the extinction coefficient of soot. If the laser wavelength is 1.53 μm and the particle size of soot is 45 μm, the extinction coefficient of soot is 2.1016. The magnitude of laser intensity attenuation at different particle concentrations can be obtained based on the extinction coefficient of particulate matter. When the concentration of soot is greater than 26290 mg/m3 and the optical path is 100 cm, the transmittance is less than 0.1 and the laser intensity attenuation reach over 90 %, which may affect the detection of gas absorption spectroscopy information and the accuracy of measurement. On this basis, this paper established the relationship between gas concentration and corrected absorbance to invert the gas concentration in the presence of particulate matter when the concentration of soot is less than 26290 mg/m3. The inversion gas concentration error obtained by the absorbance peak calibration method is within 3 %, and the inversion gas concentration error obtained by the absorbance integration method is within 1 %. From the inversion results, it can be seen that the accurate measurement of gas concentration in the presence of particulate matter can be achieved by extracting the slope of the output laser intensity to correct absorbance.

Methane gas sensor based on direct absorption spectroscopy and the laser self-heating effect.

In this paper, a methane detection sensor based on direct absorption spectroscopy and the self-heating effect of lasers is proposed, which abandons the traditional method of relying on a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) to ensure stable gas concentration detection. The sensor can achieve stable concentration measurement in the temperature range of -10∘ to 40°C without the need for a TEC, which greatly simplifies the structure of the sensor and reduces the cost. The results of gas concentration calibration experiments show that the sensor has a good linear correlation (R 2=0.9993). Long-term continuous detection experiments show that the sensor maintains a relative detection error between -2.667% and 4.3% over the full test temperature range. In addition, signal-to-noise ratio analysis experiments further determine that the minimum detection limit of the sensor for methane gas is 27.33p p m⋅m (1σ). Given its advantages of simple structure, low cost, high accuracy, and stability, this methane detection sensor is well suited for natural gas leakage monitoring in home environments and can also be widely used in industrial safety detection and environmental monitoring applications. This technology provides a cost-effective solution for domestic and industrial methane detection.

High-precision characterization of quantum-cascade laser frequency response using wavelength modulation spectroscopy.

This paper investigates the impact of the quantum cascade laser's frequency modulation response on its tuning rate and tunability. We show a significant disparity in laser tuning rates and tunability between single and dual-frequency modulation schemes frequently used in typical direct absorption and wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) techniques. We show that the DC-characterized tuning rate of a laser can be reduced significantly under a specific set of modulation frequencies of the laser injection current. We characterize these effects by simultaneous measurements of higher harmonic WMS of methane and nitrous oxide in the 7.8 µm spectral regions. We further show that WMS signal modulation broadening mechanisms and spectral structure, i.e., its zero-crossings and turning points, can be used to quantify such laser-modulation effects and validate laser frequency response under dual modulation schemes.

Leveraging deep learning for optimal methane gas detection: Residual network filter assisted direct absorption spectroscopy

Noise interference in gas concentration detection has always been an intractable problem. A novel residual network filter based on deep learning algorithm in this study is proposed to compensate the shortcomings of direct absorption spectroscopy under noisy conditions. Benefiting from the ability of extracting spectral features, the residual network filter established a mapping relationship between the input noisy spectra and the denoised spectra. The signal-to-noise ratio of the residual network filter reached 33.90 dB in the simulation test and its generalization ability was further verified in the experimental test, both of which are superior to widely used filtering algorithms. In the real-time measurement evaluation, the coefficient of determination and standard deviation of the residual network filter-assisted sensor in concentration inversion and stability testing were 0.9999 and 5.82 ppm, respectively. A series of experiments show that this research has high detection accuracy and stability within the full concentration range, which greatly suppresses the noise interference of traditional gas detection. The signal can be effectively extracted even under extremely low signal-to-noise ratio conditions, demonstrating the feasibility of improvement of traditional gas sensors through the proposed deep learning model.

A baseline correction and noise suppression method based on fitting neural network for CH4/C2H6 dual gas sensing system

We designed a methane/ethane (CH4/C2H6) dual-gas sensor on the basis of direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) technology and explored the potential for low power consumption and miniaturization of the detection system using the effective optical range is only 25 cm for absorption cell and an uncooled photodetector. The problem of baseline drift introduced by uncooled photodetectors has been improved by using of a fitting neural network approach, and absorbance spectrum denoising has been realized. We established the mathematical relationship between absorbance and concentration for each gas of CH4/C2H6 through experimental detection, which shows strong linearity. And the correlation coefficients (R2) reached 0.99995 and 0.99998, demonstrating the robustness of the sensor. Through 3 h of measured and evaluated system, we obtained the minimum detectable column densities of 0.588 ppm⋅m and 0.128 ppm⋅m for CH4 and C2H6, respectively, which proved that the sensor has high sensitivity, strong stability, and has broad application prospects.

Research on Multi-point Measurement System of Mine Gas Based on TDLA

Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) technology combines the advantages of wavelength modulation technology and direct absorption spectroscopy technology, and the system achieves highly sensitive and full-range detection of methane gas concentrations. In the system, only the pure optical methane probe is positioned under the mine, which establishes connectivity with the host computer on the surface through the optical fiber. This setup enables the simultaneous detection of 16 channels of methane gas through time-sharing multiplexing technology. Experimental results demonstrate a measurement error of less than ±6.0×10−4 at low concentrations (0∼1%) and within ±6% of the true value at high concentrations under normal temperature and pressure conditions. The full-range linear fit attains 0.9998. According to the one-fold standard deviation, the minimum detection lower limit of the system stands at 68.36 ppm and the measured gas concentrations across different channels of the methane probes remain consistent inhe same environment. This technology provides a new solution for continuous, accurate, and multi-point monitoring of mine gas.

Triple-range adjustable plane-concave multipass gas cell for high-precision trace gas detection based on TDLAS

A triple-range adjustable plane-concave multipass gas cell (PC-MPGC) was developed for high-precision trace gas detection based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy. Effective optical path lengths (EOPLs) of 64.5, 42.5, and 20.5 m could be easily achieved by adjusting the incident beam angle. The trace gas sensor system employed a 1.653 µm distributed feedback diode laser to target a strong methane (CH4) absorption line, and direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) was used to evaluate the performance of the system with a 64.5 m EOPL. A Savitzky–Golay filtering algorithm was employed to denoise the measured signal, and a third harmonic signal was used for laser frequency locking. A signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 191 was achieved, which corresponds to a detection sensitivity of 0.78 ppmv. The system response time was obtained through measurement of CH4 at concentration of 0 ppmv and 20 ppmv at 298 K and 1 atm, and it was found to be 11 s. Kalman filtering was applied to improve the detection sensitivity of the gas sensor. The stability of the system was analyzed using Allan deviation, and a minimum detectable limit of 21 ppbv was obtained for an integration time of 580 s. In situ continuous monitoring of atmospheric CH4 characteristics was performed for 72-h. The development of a new type of PC-MPGC paves the way for the detection of multicomponent gases at different absorption path lengths.

Waveguide‐Based On‐Chip Photothermal Spectroscopy for Gas Sensing

AbstractOn‐chip waveguide spectroscopic sensors have attracted considerable attention due to its potential for large‐scale integration. However, existing waveguide gas sensors based on direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) suffer from limited sensitivity and measurement range. Here waveguide‐based on‐chip photothermal spectroscopy (PTS) is demonstrated for gas detection with high sensitivity and large dynamic range. On‐chip photothermal field due to non‐radiation relaxation of gas molecules and the resulted photothermal phase modulation are analyzed. By selecting chalcogenide glass (ChG) as the core‐layer material and fabricating thermally‐isolated ChG‐on‐SU8 waveguide for thermal field accumulation, a twofold increase in photothermal phase modulation is achieved as compared to ChG‐on‐SiO2 waveguides. Different from the major concern of multi‐path etalon noise in DAS, piezoelectric transducer noise in the interferometer is identified as the main source in this PTS. For a fair comparison, acetylene (C2H2) detection experiments are conducted using PTS and DAS with a 2 cm‐long ChG‐on‐SU8 waveguide. A remarkable sensitivity of 4 parts‐per‐million (ppm) is achieved, which is 16 times better than that of DAS. The dynamic range extends over five orders of magnitude for PTS, ≈3 orders of magnitude larger than that of DAS. Such high performance opens the possibility of fully‐integrated chip‐level sensors for low‐power, light‐weight applications.

Mid-infrared auto-correction on-chip waveguide gas sensor based on 2f/1f wavelength modulation spectroscopy.

Compared to the most commonly used on-chip direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) gas detection technique, the second harmonic (2f) based on-chip wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) proposed by our group has the faculty to suppress noise and improve performance, but the accuracy of 2f WMS is easily affected by optical power variation. A mid-infrared auto-correction on-chip gas sensor based on 2f/1f WMS was proposed for decreasing the influence of the variation of optical power. The limit of detection of methane (CH4) obtained by a chalcogenide waveguide with a length of 10 mm is 0.031%. Compared with the 2f WMS, the maximum relative concentration error of the auto-correction on-chip gas sensor was decreased by ∼5.6 times. The measurement error is ≤2% in a temperature variation range of 30°C. This auto-correction sensor without a complicated manual calibration is helpful to the high accuracy measurement for on-chip integrated gas sensing.

Near-infrared C2H4 Detection Based on Calibrated Direct Absorption Spectroscopy

Near-infrared C2H4 Detection Based on Calibrated Direct Absorption Spectroscopy

A novel methodology for characterizing DFB laser wavelength response (WR) in wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS)

A novel methodology to directly characterize the wavelength response (WR) of a DFB laser in wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) is proposed. This method circumvents the cumbersome etalon signal peak counting process which brings in manual errors easily. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was employed to effectively address the challenges encountered during the fitting process, which involved as many as 7 parameters in the WR. The WR with different combinations of frequencies of scan and modulation, as well as modulation amplitudes were characterized by this method. And it is shown that there exist negligible differences when comparing the results with those by traditional etalon peaking counting method. In order to verify the accuracy of this method, two tunable diode lasers emitting near 7185.59 cm−1 and 7444.35 cm−1 were employed to perform the measurements of temperature above a burner with calibration-free WMS-2f/1f and direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS), respectively. The temperature measured by two techniques shows great accordance, which indicates the accuracy of WR deduced by the proposed method.

A multi-laser hybrid absorption sensor for simultaneous measurement of NH3, NO, and temperature in denitrification flue gas

The real-time monitoring of NH3, NO, and flue gas temperatures is critical to controlling NOx emissions from coal-fired power plants, reducing ammonia slip, and realizing accurate ammonia injection. However, few previous studies have utilized laser absorption sensors to measure these three indicators simultaneously. In this paper, a multi-laser hybrid sensor is designed based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) for simultaneous measurement of NH3, NO, and flue gas temperature. The sensor uses a distributed feedback (DFB) laser to target the NH3 and the H2O lines, and a quantum cascade laser (QCL) is used to target the NO line. In the measurements of NH3 and NO using calibration-free wavelength-modulated spectroscopy (CF-WMS), we employ a method to obtain the laser wavelength response by fitting the demodulated signal of a standard gas. Additionally, temperature measurements are obtained using the time-division multiplexing (TDM) strategy and direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) techniques with the help of the absorption spectrum of H2O. Under static conditions, the relative accuracy of NH3 and NO detected by the sensor is 4.2% and 2%, respectively, and the maximum relative standard deviation of temperature is 1.3%. When tested under flowing conditions, the sensor can accurately capture NH3, NO, and temperature changes. The relative accuracy of NH3 and NO is 4.7% and 2.2%, and the relative standard deviation of temperature is 0.9%. The sensor has great potential in optimizing denitrification processes in thermal power plants.

Near-Infrared Laser Methane Remote Monitoring Based on Template Matching Algorithm of Harmonic Signals

Trustworthy technology for the monitoring of fugitive methane emissions is an indispensable component for low−carbon emission reduction and safe production in oil and gas infrastructure. A miniaturization and low-cost methane remote monitoring prototype based on near-infrared laser absorption spectroscopy is developed to retrieve the path−integral concentration by employing the harmonic conjoint analysis method for the backscattered echo signals from a distant non-cooperative target. A distorted harmonic template matching (DHTM) algorithm is proposed based on wavelength modulation spectroscopy with second harmonic normalized via the first harmonic (WMS−2f/1f) method, which suppresses the output concentration fluctuation caused by open path monitoring with non-cooperative target and avoids the issue of false alarms during the detection process without target gas. The reliability of the WMS−2f/1f−DHTM algorithm is verified by calibration and dynamic experiments. The results showed that this algorithm avoids the dilemma of false alarms in the absence of gas compared to the conventional WMS−2f/1f algorithm, while the root mean square error (RMSE) of the concentration inversion with a detection distance of 20 m is reduced by 57.6% compared to direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) algorithm. And the minimum detection limit of system is 3.79 ppm·m. The methane telemetry sensor with the WMS−2f/1f−DHTM algorithm exhibits substantial application potential in carbon monitoring of oil and gas industry.

High‐pressure gas temperature sensing for exit plane of aero‐engine combustor using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy

AbstractWe have developed a sensor for the temperature measurement in the test section after the combustion chamber of an aero engine model by using direct absorption spectroscopy. Five distributed feedback diode lasers at near 1392, 1393, 1339, 1343, and 1469 nm are utilized as the light sources to detect H2O absorptions to improve the precision of temperature measurement combining with the Boltzmann plot method and the polynomial‐based spectral fitting model. The sensor shows a good performance in terms of its temperature measurement accuracy under high temperature of 673–1373 K and high pressure of 100–600 kPa condition in a tube furnace, which was lower than 4%. Moreover, three‐dimensional temperature distributions have been reconstructed via applying algebraic reconstruction technique at the test section after the combustion chamber of an aero engine model. The single‐point position temperature extracted from the algebraic reconstruction technique agrees well with that measured from the coherent anti‐stokes Raman scattering technique, where the relative error is within 5%. All the above results prove the reliability of our developed temperature sensor.

Quantification of natural gas and other hydrocarbons from production sites in northern West Virginia using tracer flux ratio methodology.

Tracer flux ratio (TFR) methodology performed downwind of 15 active oil and natural gas production sites in Ohio County, West Virginia sought to quantify air pollutant emissions over two weeks in April 2018. In coordination with a production company, sites were randomly selected depending on wind forecasts and nearby road access. Methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), and tracer gas compounds (acetylene and nitrous oxide) were measured via tunable infrared direct absorption spectroscopy. Ion signals attributed to benzene (C6H6) and other volatile gases (e.g., C7 - C9 aromatics) were measured via proton-transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Short-term whole facility emission rates for 12 sites are reported. Results from TFR were systematically higher than the sum of concurrent on-site full flow sampler measurements, though not all sources were assessed on-site in most cases. In downwind plumes, the mode of the C2H6:CH4 molar ratio distribution for all sites was 0.2, which agreed with spot sample analysis from the site operator. Distribution of C6H6:CH4 ratios was skew but values between 1 and 5 pptv ppbv-1 were common. Additionally, the aromatic profile has been attributed to condensate storage tank emissions. Average ratios of C7 - C9 to C6H6 were similar to other literature values reported for natural gas wells.

A study on continuous temperature measurement using direct absorption spectroscopy for fuel-air premixed flames

A study on continuous temperature measurement using direct absorption spectroscopy for fuel-air premixed flames

A mid‐infrared laser absorption sensor for calibration‐free measurement of nitric oxide in laminar premixed methane/ammonia cofired flames

AbstractAn interband cascade laser (ICL)‐based absorption sensor was developed for calibration‐free and high‐fidelity measurement of nitric oxide (NO) in laminar premixed methane/ammonia cofired flames using a combination of a micro‐probe and a low‐pressure, high‐temperature gas cell. The developed sensor, which has been shown to be particularly suitable for kinetic studies of ammonia combustion, used a tunable, continuous, narrow‐linewidth, free‐space ICL operating at ~5.2 μm to target the optimal NO transition centered at 1900.07 cm−1. A direct absorption spectroscopy technique with a reduced line model was implemented for calibration‐free measurements. Comprehensive experiments were first conducted to evaluate the sensor performance against the standard gas mixture at varied pressure from 20 to 101 kPa at 393 K, showing a relative difference of ≤2.5% and a measurement uncertainty of ≤2.0%. Such a sensor shows a minimum detection limit of ~2 ppm at the integration time of 1 s. The sensor was then applied for investigating the NO formation in ammonia‐methane cofiring flames with various ammonia blending ratios; the acquired experimental data was further used as benchmark data for evaluation of literature chemical mechanisms for ammonia combustion. The developed sensor system was demonstrated to be capable of providing quantitative and spatially resolved measurement of NO in ammonia‐methane cofired flames.

Water vapor detection based on three-line TDLAS with a continuous wave quantum cascade laser

Water vapor is an important gas species in atmosphere. In this work, we present a three-line tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) gas sensor for water vapor detection based on direct absorption spectroscopy. A continuous wave quantum cascade laser (QCL) is employed as the light source with a wavelength near 7.15 µm. The output wavelength of the QCL is tuned to scan across three absorption lines of water vapor simultaneously in the detection. A detection limit of 10.7 ppm v (parts per million by volume) is obtained in 30-s integration time with a 40 cm gas cell. This detection limit could be further improved if wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) or a multi-pass gas cell is introduced to the system.