I have a story in today’s Toronto Star about a homegrown company that makes highly sensitive fibre-optic sensors that can monitor the effects of corrosion on oil and natural gas pipelines and refinery operations. Fiber Optic Systems Technology Inc., or FOX-TEK, can be considered a “cleantech” company because its technology helps oil pipelines and refinery facilities operate more efficiently — i.e. companies can optimize maintenance schedules — and also reduces the risk of leaks, fires or explosions that could have a serious impact on the environment and people’s lives. Give the piece a read to find out how the technology works.

The story is timely, given recent corrosion-related oil and natural gas leaks in Alaska that have attracted the attention of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Environmental Protection Authority. Since we all know the oil companies are oozing profits, the added public attention to pipeline and refinery maintenance and safety could lead to renewed spending on new monitoring technologies. FOX-TEK has already sold a couple of its systems to Enbridge Pipelines, is close to announcing a symbolically significant deal with Saudi Aramco (the world’s largest oil company), and is in serious talks with other North American oil and gas companies, including Mexico’s PMEX.

What’s even more interesting is that the technology isn’t limited to oil and gas infrastructure. The fibre-optic sensors can monitor the integrity of bridges, wind-turbine blades, power transmission lines, liquified-natural gas storage tanks, you name it — anything where safety is paramount and corrosion/stress is a huge problem on materials. FOX-TEK also did a neat experiment with NASA, which used the technology to monitor the effects of small space particles hitting something akin to the International Space Station at super-fast speeds. The experiment worked quite well, but FOX-TEK co-founder and CEO Gary Jolly could not reveal what other work his company is doing with NASA.

Whatever the case, this technology is cool. Fact is, if you’ve got to live in an economy addicted to oil and natural gas, it’s best to use technologies that can minimize the impact of these fossil fuels on the environment. FOX-TEK fits that bill.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 26th, 2006 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Main Page. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.