Quantitifificatition of the compositition of liquid hydrocarbon streams: Comparing the GC-VUV to DHA and GCxGC

Hydrocarbons analysis is important in the oil and gas industry, as stream composition has a strong impact on plant operations. The composition of hydrocarbon streams vary across a plant, which makes the selection of analytical methods challenging. Traditional methods for the evaluation of liquid hydrocarbon streams include the Detailed Hydrocarbon Analysis (DHA); however, non-traditional methods, such as comprehensive gas chromatography (GCxGC), are also utilized in the chemical industry. This work details a comparison of analytical techniques available for such analyses, specifically, DHA and GCxGC compared to the recently introduced GC-Vacuum Ultra Violet (GC-VUV) system. Numerous liquid hydrocarbon streams were blended together to generate a composite and extensive matrix in terms of composition. Paraffin, iso-paraffin, olefin, naphthene, and aromatic (PIONA) results are presented for the three techniques. All of those methods obtained relative standard deviations lower than 1.3% for five injections a day for three days. Standard addition curves were utilized to accurately quantify specific compounds in a liquid hydrocarbon stream, and these results were compared to the GC-VUV PIONA+ and DHA quantification procedures.