You have been redirected to your local version of the requested page

NIR spectroscopy in the petrochemical and refinery industry: The ASTM compliant tool for QC and product screening – Part 3

Nov 15, 2021

Article

This article is Part 3 of a series.

What is Pyrolysis gasoline or «Pygas»?

Pyrolysis gasoline, also known as Pygas, is a byproduct of naphtha cracking during the production of ethylene and propylene. Pyrolysis gasoline is an easily flammable, colorless liquid with high aromatic contents and represents a mixture of light hydrocarbons (Figure 1). It is a high octane number mixture which contains aromatics, olefins, and paraffins ranging from C5 to C12.

Pyrolysis gasoline (or Pygas) shown here is nearly colorless, but extremely flammable.
Figure 1. Pyrolysis gasoline (or Pygas) shown here is nearly colorless, but extremely flammable.

Because of its high octane number, Pygas has a high potential for blending in various end-user products.  In addition, pyrolysis gasoline can be used as a component separator for benzene, toluene, and xylene. For this purpose, it is used as a component separation additive.

Pygas contains some undesired conjugated diolefins that when present in high quantities makes them unsuitable as a motor fuel. These conjugated diolefins are highly reactive to polymerization and can plug the downstream refining processes causing unwanted shutdowns and high costs for remediation. These compounds also affect the stability of commercial gasoline. Therefore, the conjugated diolefins content must be controlled.

The content of conjugated diolefins is indirectly measured as the «maleic anhydride value» (MAV), or as the «diene value» (DV). This parameter is usually determined by the Diels-Alder wet chemical method (UOP 326). Furthermore, the determination of Bromine Number (ASTM D1159) in pygas is useful as it indicates the degree of aliphatic unsaturation. These determination methods require several hours and must be analyzed by highly trained analysts. In contrast to using primary methods, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a cost-efficient and fast alternative solution for the determination of MAV or DV and Bromine Number in pyrolysis gasoline.

Near-infrared spectroscopy—an ASTM compliant tool to assess the quality of pygas

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been an established method for both fast and reliable quality control within the petrochemical industry for more than 30 years. However, many companies still do not consistently consider the implementation of NIRS in their QA/QC labs. The reasons could be either limited experience regarding application possibilities or a general hesitation about implementing new methods.

There are several advantages of using NIRS over other conventional analytical technologies. For one, NIRS is able to measure multiple parameters in just 30 seconds without any sample preparation! The non-invasive light-matter interaction used by NIRS, influenced by physical as well as chemical sample properties, makes it an excellent method for the determination of both property types.

In the remainder of this post, an available solution for the determination of maleic anhydride value (MAV) or diene value (DV) and Bromine number are outlined which have been developed according to the NIRS implementation guidelines of ASTM E1655 (method development), ASTM D6122 (method validation), and ASTM D8340 (results validation).


Read our previous blog posts to learn more about NIRS as a secondary technique.

Benefits of NIR spectroscopy: Part 1

Benefits of NIR spectroscopy: Part 2

Benefits of NIR spectroscopy: Part 3

Benefits of NIR spectroscopy: Part 4