Refineries and gas processing plants use glycol to dehydrate oil and gas, reducing the amount of water to less than 0.5%. Once the glycol has dehydrated the hydrocarbon the glycol is ‘rich’ with water and hydrocarbon. In order to reuse the glycol, the water and hydrocarbons are removed in a regeneration process. Normally, a laboratory analysis procedure is used to determine the water and hydrocarbon content in the ‘lean’ glycol. The laboratory procedure for hydrocarbons is lengthy and has a number of steps that can contribute to non-repeatable answers. A repeatable, quick and easy field method with field analyzer is needed to provide confident results without delay.
The TD-500D hand held oil in water analyzer was introduced to the offshore oil market for overboard produced water monitoring applications about five years ago. Since then its role has expanded into other markets including all phases of hydrocarbon processing and heavy industrial applications. In recent tests with a major oil and gas producer, the TD-500D was used to determine the hydrocarbon content in lean glycol in less than two minutes with no solvent extraction. A field-able method allows the TD-500D to detect up to 5% hydrocarbon in glycol through a simple dilution and without need for a laboratory.
The TD-500D Glycol dilution procedure requires only a single step of diluting the lean glycol 100:1 with de-ionized water. The diluted glycol is then analyzed in the TD-500D in a cuvette with no solvent extraction. The entire procedure and analysis should not take more than two minutes and can be done in the field by field personnel.
The TD-500D is a very simple to use analyzer with just two button pushes needed for a single analysis. Results are obtained in five seconds. Continuous on-line monitors such as our TD-4100XDC are perfect if continuous monitoring is required.
Turner Designs Hydrocarbon Instruments, Inc. is the recognized world leader in oil in water monitoring with fluorescence. UV Fluorescence has been used for measuring oilfield produced water for over 15 years, and is the most commonly specified technology for continuous measurement of produced water. Measurement of hydrocarbon in water as low as a few Parts per Billion is common in many applications. Turner Designs Hydrocarbon Instruments’ complete product line includes continuous on-line and bench top hydrocarbon in water instruments for a wide range of applications and markets.