FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2026
ReSpark Innovations Awarded Two PHMSA Pipeline Safety R&D Agreements
FARGO, N.D. — ReSpark Innovations LLC has been awarded two Other Transaction Agreements by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) under Research Announcement 693JK325RA001. The agreements are effective August 27, 2026, with a period of performance of September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2028.
Combined estimated project value is $3.2 million, including $1.6 million in federal funding and $1.6 million in team in-kind share.
The awards are:
693JK32610002POTA, “Chemi-Sense Coupon and Probe for Inspecting and Monitoring Corrosion State and Chemical Status in Piping, Tanks, and Equipment at Facilities and Stations.” Estimated $1.2 million ($600,000 federal). Project team includes ReSpark Innovations, and is supported by GUL Americas, and Plains All American.
693JK32610006POTA, “Pigging the Unpiggable: Customized Smart Sphere and Pigging to Detect Effectiveness of Corrosion Inhibitors for Pipelines Difficult to Inspect.” Estimated $2.0 million ($1,000,000 federal). Project team includes ReSpark Innovations, and is supported by SUN Pipeline Solutions, Arizona State University, and Plains All American.
Both projects sit in PHMSA’s anomaly-detection research area. The first develops coupon- and probe-mounted chemical sensors for corrosion state and chemistry in piping, tanks, and station equipment. The second develops custom spheres and pigs to measure corrosion-inhibitor effectiveness on pipelines that are unpiggable or difficult to inspect.
“These awards let us take sensor film work that started under a PHMSA CAAP project and continued with ReSpark Innovations in our lab and put it onto the platforms operators already use, coupons, probes, spheres, and pigs,” said Rick Sugden, founder and CEO of ReSpark Innovations. “The goal is better information on internal corrosion activity and inhibitor performance in places that are hard to inspect or monitor today. Ultimately, these will be interchangeable for evaluation of chemical effectiveness and internal corrosion rate changes.”
ReSpark Innovations LLC is a Fargo, N.D. research and development company working on asset-integrity technology for energy infrastructure. It is based at the NDSU Research and Technology Park.
Media contact:
Rick Sugden
Founder and CEO
rick.sugden@resparkinnovations.com
www.resparkinnovations.com
This work was funded in part, under the Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Department of Transportation, or the U.S. Government.
