8th CRIBIQ CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Joint Call Involving
Quebec industrial bioprocess research and innovation consortium
(CRIBIQ)
Créneau bio-industries environnementales de l’Estrie (CABIE)
and
SHERBROOKE OEM
Since 2009, with financial support from the Quebec government, CRIBIQ has been financing
collaborative research projects that combine the know-how of businesses and public research
facilities in order to stimulate partnership and innovation in sectors relating to production
using raw materials of biological origin and industrialized bioprocesses.
In order to continue to meet the needs of the industrial members of the consortium for the
purposes of the 2013–2014 research program, CRIBIQ and CABIE have joined their efforts in
order to finance collaborative research projects in these sectors.
In this context,
SHERBROOKE OEM, a company specializing in the design, manufacture and integration of
custom recycling equipment, has expressed its intention to join CRIBIQ and CABIE in a call
for proposals issued to public research facilities, in order to meet its needs in terms of
technological developments applicable to industrial-scale harvesting and upgrading of microalgae. SHERBROOKE OEM has provided in the attached document a summary of the
challenges to be met through research and innovation. Researchers interested in meeting
these challenges must complete the grant application form (formulaire de demande
subvention) by no later than the deadline of 5:00 PM Friday May 3, 2013. Researchers whose
proposals are selected will be invited to present in person a PowerPoint outline of the
research project to a committee of experts composed of representatives of CRIBIQ, CABIE
and SHERBROOKE OEM on May 30 or 31, 2013. The final decision to fund projects thus
presented shall be announced at the end of June 2013.
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JOINT CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Consortium de recherche et d’innovations en bioprocédés industriels
au Québec (CRIBIQ)
Créneau Bio-Industries Environnementale de l’Estrie (CABIE)
And
Sherbrooke OEM
PROJECT GRANT APPLICATION FORM
Title of proposed project
Sorting polymers, organic fibers and heavy elements through a multi
wavelength analyzer
Main Industry Partner
Company Name
Sherbrooke O.E.M ltd
Company mission :
Design, build and integrate custom recycling equipments.
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RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PROBLEM SUBMITTED BY THE INDUSTRIAL
PARTNER
This project involves the creation of a near infrared (NIR)-mid infrared (MWIR) and x-ray
fluorescence analyzer unit to identify and sort polymers and organic fibres by their
spectral signatures and colors, as well as identify heavy chemical elements. Through a
non-destructive process, spectroscopic characterisation of organic fibres, polymers and
heavy elements shall be achieved with no alteration of the material properties. Without
any moving part in the analyzer, the whole field of view shall be characterized at once.
This material continuously will be moving at speed between 200 and more than 600 ft/min
and scattered randomly on a conveyor belt. Deploying this technology within Sherbrooke
O.E.M product line will require that the analyzer be built from modular 12 inches section
that can be assembled up to 96 inches without loss of conveyor belt coverage. With this
analyzer Sherbrooke O.E.M seeks to increase its market share in the sorting of residual
waste as well as opening new markets in increasing the value of digestate and lowering
operational cost of the anaerobic digestion industry. Furthermore, as this analyzer will be
used within an industrial setting, it shall be resistant to vibrations, shocks and the
presence of dust. Finally, the analyzer size and weight will be small enough to be fitted on
a structure set over one conveyor belt and the final production cost of the design shall be
low enough to be commercially viable.
The analyzer shall include a modular light set-up that will insure a constant and uniform
light distribution over the conveyor belt. All this shall be achieved by a continuous light
source that shall not modify the spectral proprieties of the material to sort nor add any
incendiary risk to the analyzer operation. The illumination shall be divided in two
independent sections, the first providing optimized illumination for wavelength between
0.9 to 5 m while the second provides x-ray illumination between 4 and 20 keV (or a larger
band including these two). The x-ray illumination shall be limited to conveyor belt section
to be analysed and shall be attenuated to well below safe exposure level using ¼’’ or ½’’
thick steel. Finally all radiation emission shall cease instantaneously with the machine
stop.
To analyze the NIR-MWIR band, Sherbrooke O.E.M design philosophies requires the use a
spectrometer using a group of optical fibres to divide the field of view into more than 100
discrete spatial elements. This allows the use of a single spectrometer for more than one
conveyor belt simultaneously (either sequentially or in parallel). Since all of the field of
view is used for spectroscopic information, the spectrometer optical design shall minimize
distortions on the detector. Furthermore the system shall function equally well with any
number of active fibres between 1 and the maximum number allowed by the design. The
spectrometer also needs to minimize the light lost along the light path to maximize signal
on its detector. It also requires an optimized wavelength transmission between 0.9 and 5
m with a spectral resolution of 2 nm. For a real time characterization of the material, a
high sensibility detector capable of acquisition time shorter than 10 s at a continuous
frame rate of at least 100 Hz is required. To optimize the spectral analysis the detector will
require quantum efficiency above 75% between 0.9 and 5 m with a very low read-out
noise. To reduce the computational weight a preprocessing module could be included in
the analyzer to perform wavelength calibration, noise reduction, dark current and/or readout noise subtraction as well as flux calibration task before the spectra’s transmission to
an industrial PC.
The x-ray part of the analyzer shall produce at least 100 readings of the whole analyser per
second (a frame rate of more than 100 Hz) for an energy band between 4 to 20 keV with a
minimal resolution of 195 eV. Individual detector or the design of a detector array in the
analyzer will be capable of a spatial resolution of less than 2’’ on the conveyor. The
detector optical component transmission shall be optimized for the same energy band to
minimize its attenuation and the spectral feature it might contribute to the final
measurement. A preprocessing module can be added to remove known artefact and flux
calibrate the spectra before transmission to an industrial PC.
The analyzer characteristics (both NIR-MWIR and in x ray) shall be sufficiently stable that
instrument calibration will be required less than once a week. Also, these calibrations will
need to be performed without risk of exposure to radiation or special security equipments
by the employees of our clients. Finally, the preprocessing parameters will be
customizable through software access to account for the changing nature of the industrial
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environment.
The analyzer project also includes the design of spectral analysis and classification
algorithms. These algorithms should process part or the entirety of the spectral
information and produce result that include a maximum of 2% of false positive
identification and missed identification with optimized parameters. Each spectrum should
be analysed in less than 100 s for a set of 20 or more reference spectra on an industrial
PC. These reference spectra shall represent a sub-set of ideal spectrum for the product
our client is likely to encounter. It shall be possible to modify the set of reference spectra
if the need arise using spectra with the appropriate spectra characteristics.
Without having to recompile the algorithm’s code, it shall be possible to modify the
algorithm parameters to optimize the identification for our clients. Furthermore, it should
be possible to build “super algorithm” from the individual algorithm to refine the result
with each step in the “super algorithm”. Within this recursive use of the algorithms it shall
be possible to use independent parameters for each recursion. Also, it shall be possible to
use independent and/or different algorithms for the analysis of NIR-MWIR and X ray
spectra. Each module and algorithm shall be required to provide its execution time to
insure the “super algorithm” doesn’t require more than the allotted time and/or to raise an
alarm if the 100 s limit is broken during operation. Finally, the algorithm design shall be
standardized as to permit the addition of new or updated algorithms in the future; this
should be accomplished as a plug-in operation.
Finally, this project also includes the design of an user interface software to shall create a
unified look for the different options, pages and tasks associated with the machine
operation. This unified look shall be reusable in other user interface of Sherbrooke O.E.M
product line up. It shall include access control to limit available information and functions
to appropriately authorized users. This user interface shall be designed following the
requirement that the primary communication device with the user shall be a touch
sensitive screen. In addition to providing easy and intuitive access to the machine control
and statistics, it will have a visual assemblage capacity for the sorting algorithms used for
the creation of “super algorithms”. The parameters and reference spectra of the sorting
algorithms shall be modifiable from this interface with appropriate privileges. The
interface shall control process for the machine operation and recording and displaying
alerts in event of deviation from normal operation of the analyzers, conveyor or any other
associated equipment, transmitting command and information to these associated
equipment and managing the analyzer’s communication and synchronisation. The user
interface shall provide means to define the expected commands and information as well
as appropriate responses. Furthermore, this software shall produce statistical information
exportable and useable on the majority of office software suites. These statistics shall at
least include the quantity of product sorted (in per cent, absolute number and by time
interval and/or special resolution element) and machine operation statistics.
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PROPOSAL FROM THE RESEARCH GROUP
1. RESEARCH INSTITUTION THAT WILL ADMINISTER THE GRANT
2 :PRINCIPAL APPLICANT (must be affiliated to a member: university or research center)
Given name :
Family name :
Organization :
Position :
Fax :
(
)
Email :
Address:
Phone :
(
)
-
ext.
-
University or research institution representative
Given name :
Family name :
Organization :
Principal applicant signature
Signature of the director of the institution
(Vice-president; Dean, General manager, Head of department ….)
3 : CO-APPLICANTS: UNIVERSITIES
Name
Organization
/ RESEARCH CENTERS
Position
Contact information
1.
Phone : (
Email:
)
-
ext. :
2.
Phone : (
Email:
)
-
ext. :
3.
Phone : (
Email:
)
-
ext. :
Co- applicant signature 1
Co- applicant signature 3
Co- applicant signature 2
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4. CALENDAR AND MILESTONES
Activities
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Description
Expected start
date
Expected end
date
DD-MM-YYYY
DD-MM-YYYY
Results and milestones
IMPORTANT : Quantify the expected results
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5. RESEARCH TEAMS within the INSTITUTIONS participating in the project
Name of researcher
Title position and research
institution
Specific skills and expertise related to the project
6. STUDENTS AND POST-DOC FELLOWS PARTICIPATING IN THE PROJECT
YEAR 1
Institution 1
Undergraduates
M.Sc.
Students
Ph.D.
Total
POST-DOC FELLOWS
Institution 2
YEAR 2
Institution 3
Institution 1
Institution 2
YEAR 3
Institution 3
Institution 1
Institution 2
Institution 3
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7.
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE EXPENSES
YEAR 1
Salaries and benefits
Equipment or facilities
Materials and supplies
Travel
Dissemination costs
8,5% CRIBIQ MANAGEMENT FEES (total retained
at year 1)
Other indirect fees of Universities and research
centers (if applicable)
TOTAL PER YEAR
YEAR 2
YEAR 3