22 Analytical Instrumentation Safe, Fast and Accurate Analysis of Oily Residues in LPG


LPG is an alternative fuel, which is still fossil fuel-derived. It offers several benefits over traditional fuels as LPG is a clean-burning transport fuel with a high energy content and the infrastructure is well developed. The legislative rules and automotive industry promote the use of LPG. One of the fuel specifications for LPG concerns the amounts of oily residues, as these lead to troublesome deposits and material changes. Conventional test methods to specify the oily residues require the evaporation of large amounts of LPG and therefore present a high safety risk. A new technique to determine the oily residues using a fast, safe and accurate method is based on Gas Chromatography combined with the Liquefied Gas Injector (LGI).


Da Vinci Europe laboratory Solutions B.V. (Netherlands) developed the Liquefied Gas Injector in close cooperation with Shell Global Solutions. This injector is able to inject gases in liquid phase under high pressure directly on-column. The on-column injection allows to analyze the high boiling oily residues in LPG using a GC method. This is a fast, safe and accurate alternative for the current methods which are based on open air evaporation of large amounts of LPG.


The injector is configured with the Gasoline Direct Injector, a proven part that is commonly used in car engines. After injection, the GC analysis technique uses a vapor exit to flush the LPG light end fraction. The oily residue remains on the column and is separated by boiling point order. The result is reported as concentration in mg/kg (mass ppm). The analysis range starts from 10 up to 600 mg/kg having a repeatability of 5%. The required analysis time is less than 30 minutes.


The new GC method is currently a work item of ASTM D02.H0 on Liquefied Petroleum Gas: WK31249 Residues in Liquefied Petroleum (LP) Gases by Gas Chromatography with Liquid, On-Column Injection. The GC method will be balloted in the fall of 2011. After the product introduction in 2010 the LGI was awarded for the Best New Technology at the Gulf Coast Conference of 2010. The current installed base includes LPG customers located in Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe and U.S.A. Their experiences with the LGI have proven that the new technology is safe, fast and accurate. Additional benefits are: the results are not only reported as a value in mg/kg, the chromatogram also indicates the composition of the contamination and helps tracing the source of contamination.


Reader Reply Card No 68 Laboratory Hydrogen Generator Offers Expanded Capabilities


The F-DBS (France) H2 generator saves space and eliminates the risks associated with storing high pressure cylinders. ‘Hidden’ costs associated with piping connections, manometers, ordering, renting, delivering, servicing and maintaining cylinders, are reduced.


The F-DBS H2 generator produces ultra high purity gas (up to 99.99999%), unlike other cylinder gases which can vary in purity level; there is no guarantee that dirty or rusted cylinders will not contaminate the gas source.


The F-DBS Hydrogen generators use the latest polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) technology to produce high purity hydrogen. The exclusive "No Maintenance" gas column dryer regeneration system eliminates all down time for maintenance that is typical of other systems on the market, guaranteeing the best hydrogen purity at all times.


The exclusive cascading option allows up to 10 units to be connected in series, producing flowrates up to 10 litres! This feature gives the capacity to supply


H2 simultaneously to multiple GC and GCMS units. The system’s internal self-diagnostic features, high visibility display, internal/external leak detection, and remote control and alarm capabilities, increase lab safety and productivity.


There is no reason to fear using H2 gas as carrier gas as F-DBS’ H2 sensor controlled by their H2 generator will stop production of H2 in case of any leak inside the oven of the GC unit. The modular generator design allows the unit to be used individually or coupled to any one of the Zero air generators to form an all-in-one FID Gas Station solution for GC combustion detector applications. The H2 generator is also available in the 19 inch rack version. The Hydrogen generator is able to give an optional outlet pressure up to 16 bar. This unique feature opens a wide range of new applications such as the operation of fuel cells and the filling of low pressure metal hydride canisters for operating portable GC or mobile systems.


The low pressure metal hydride canisters achieve high volumetric energy density with low canister pressure. This enables intermediate storage of larger quantities of hydrogen in a very compact form and easy handling to enable efficient GC analysis.


Reader Reply Card No 69


Gas Divider Mixes and Dilutes Highly Concentrated Gases


The SONIMIX 2106 from LNI Schmidlin (Switzerland) is the ideal product to mix and dilute high concentrated gas cylinders.


Using the technology of sonic nozzles, this device will give the best accuracy (0.5% relative) and repeatability (0.2% relative) on the market. The range of the device goes from a 10 dilution steps up to a 1024 dilutions steps.


The SONIMIX 2106 line is the perfect product for the linearisation of gas analysers and sensors.


Available options include; compatibility with corrosive gases, RS 232 remote command, ISO 17025 calibration certificate and GasCal PC software. Reader Reply Card No 70


The FID521 module from Orthodyne (Belgium) is composed of a flame ionisation detector placed in a temperature regulated chamber and coupled with GC technology. This analyser has been designed for stand alone operation.


Easy configuration and quick start-up make this new system ideal for process gas analysis.


In addition to its user-friendly interface, this analyser has its own chromatographic software that allows


the concentration of CH4, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, C3H6, C3H8, nC4H10, iC4H10 and 1.3 C4H6 to be displayed directly. Eight analogue 4-20 mA outputs also provide information about these gas concentration levels.


The equipment status, together with any programmable alarm levels, are signaled to the exterior by output relays. An electronic flame-out guard circuit is offered in addition to an automatic fuel shut off system.


The FID521 module is ideal for applications in air separation plants and process control.


Reader Reply Card No 71 August / September 2011 • www.petro-online.com Reader Reply Card No 72


Analytical System Measures Impurities to ppb and ppm Level in Various Gases Streams


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52