The advance of technology has paved the way for lab-based systems, such as Raman, FTIR and XRF, to be transformed into portable form factors weighing just a few pounds. Though minimal in size, these new systems are robust, reliable, rugged and can perform complex analysis by non-technical users in the field.

The need for lab analysis will always be present, however new technologies for the field add capabilities and provide immediate, actionable answers at the point of need. However, traditionally the hydrocarbon processing industry has been slow to adopt new and innovative technologies.

For the oil and gas refining industry, ensuring process stability and consequent product purity remains paramount. To ensure purity across the roughly 650 primary production facilities and the thousands of allied downstream chemical manufacturing plants, producers must frequently test product streams at various points throughout the process through a series of analytical tests.

These test are critical to ensure purity and stability as they detect whether the product has become contaminated. Producers also leverage these tests to ensure that the composition has not changed unexpectedly when moving from one stage to the next. As the industry continues to seek new ways to improve process efficiency, new portable technologies can provide faster and more data-rich results for many upstream, midstream and downstream applications.

When considering the realm of process stream analysis, the in-line and at-line analyzers that are currently deployed in the field frequently rely on reduced electro/mechanical complexity for ease of operation, ruggedness and robustness. As such, many of the process instruments are simply stripped-down versions of larger laboratory instruments that have been repurposed for use as production tools. While beneficial for testing, these analyzers often have a trade-off of reduced selectivity and sensitivity for improved robustness and system uptime.

For decades, refineries and downstream plants have been utilizing laboratory-based gas chromatography (GC) instruments, using time-based selective compound detection, to monitor hydrocarbon production processes. As a result, a wide range of GC analyzers are in use today for simulated distillation of crude, detailed hydrocarbon analysis, oxygenates in gasoline, natural gas and refinery gas analysis, using either Standard (ASTM, ISO, GPA, DIN) or ad-hoc methods developed for internal, process specific analyses.

These systems are often complex, requiring multiple valve/column combinations, and typically have poor size, weight and power (SWaP) signatures. In addition, they also often lack the selectivity and sensitivity required to positively identify specific compounds as new production process detection limits decrease.

While GC will continue to be used as an indicator of overall process performance, ensuring consistent product quality often requires more advanced analysis to be conducted using mass spectrometry (MS) instruments.

Mass spectrometry is a well-established analytical technique for measuring the mass of charged molecules. Since the masses of molecules and their fragments are unique, MS provides users with the ability to distinguish among thousands of different molecules. As a result, it is often referred to as the “gold standard” of chemical analysis.

Source: 908 Devices Inc. GC-MS instruments combine the compound separating power of GC with accurate MS-based identification of molecules. Although GC-MS has clear advantages over regular GC detection, it has seen limited deployment at hydrocarbon processing sites for a number of reasons.

For example high initial cost, size, system complexity, an absolute requirement for high vacuum (0.0001 Torr) and the specialized maintenance needed to keep these systems operating continuously have contributed its restricted use.

New technologies involve designing analytical devices from the ground up, using the latest miniaturized components. These devices provide tangible advantages over legacy systems and are more easily deployable within hydrocarbon processing and centralized laboratory environments.

One new device combines high-speed GC separation technology with the compound identifying accuracy of high-pressure mass spectrometry (HPMS ). HPMS performs mass spectrometry at much higher pressures—10,000 times less vacuum than a conventional MS. It not only enables several key components of the mass spectrometer to be miniaturized, but removes the need for large, continuously operating vacuum pumps that limit deployment of conventional mass spectrometry within production environments.

The combination of GC with HPMS makes it possible for companies to leverage the analytical power and low SwaP signature offered by fast GC-HPMS systems. That makes it possible to implement these instruments for routine, robust, on-line and at-line analysis.

With any process, it is important that known contaminants, such as low level oxygenates that can degrade product quality, are identified early so their effect can be quickly ameliorated. Since portable GC-HPMS devices are not restricted to only laboratory use, they can be used for on-site deployment to detect oxygenate and other contaminants, catching potential production problems sooner rather than later.

Graham Shelver is commercial leader of applied markets for 908 Devices Inc.