Petroleum fuel analysis

Interferences from naturally occurring organic compounds are a common source of elevated RLs and false positive results in petroleum fuel analysis by EPA Method 8015, pesticide analysis by EPA Method 8081, and herbicide analysis by EPA Method 8151. 

Petroleum fuel analysis does not require second column or second detector confirmation. Fuels are identified based on their fingerprints or characteristic patterns of multiple peaks similar to ones shown in Figure 2.5. Each peak represents an individual chemical constituent, and each fuel has a unique combination of these constituents forming a characteristic pattern or a fingerprint. The fingerprints obtained... 

PETROLEUM, FUELS, FEEDSTOCKS AND COMBUSTION ANALYSIS METHODOLOGIES... 

There are two noncolumn cleanup methods, one of which uses acid partition (EPA SW-846 3650) to separate the base/neutral and acid components by adjusting pH. This method is often used before alumina column cleanup to remove acid components. The other method (EPA SW-846 3660) is used for sulfur removal and uses copper, mercury, and tetrabutylammonium sulfite as desulfurization compounds. Sulfur is a common interfering compound for petroleum hydrocarbon analysis, particularly for sediments. Sulfur-containing compounds are very common in crude oil and heavy fuel oil. Elemental sulfur is often present in anaerobically biodegraded fuels. Thus, abnormally high levels of sulfur may be... 

Furthermore, as a fuel evaporates or biodegrades, its pattern can change so radically that identification becomes difficult. Consequently, a gas chromatographic fingerprint is not a conclusive diagnostic tool. The methods used for total petroleum hydrocarbon analysis must stress calibration and quality control, whereas pattern recognition methods stress detail and comparability. 

Speight, J. G. 2002. Handbook of Petroleum Product Analysis. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Vahrman, M. 1970. Fuel, 49 5. 

Unhomogenized, homogenized, and collocated soil samples collected for waste oil, other heavy petroleum fuels, or PCB analysis... 

To better understand the structure and the inner workings of an environmental laboratory, we need to familiarize ourselves with laboratory functional groups and their responsibilities. Figure 4.2 shows an example of a typical full service environmental laboratory organization chart. A full service laboratory has the capabilities to perform analysis for common environmental contaminants, such as VOCs and SVOCs (including petroleum fuels and their constituents, pesticides, herbicides, and PCBs), trace elements (metals), and general chemistry parameters. Analysis of dioxins/furans, explosives, radiochemistry parameters, and analysis of contaminants in air are not considered routine, and are performed at specialized laboratories. 

For this analysis, we have assumed that the goal for a specific region or country is to replace 1000 barrels/day (42,000 gallons or 159,000 liters) of petroleum fuels. The heating value of this amount of petroleum fuel is 5.7 x 10 Btu/ day 6 x 10 2 joule/day). The import value of 1000 barrels per day of petroleum fuels is probably close to 25,000/day or 9 million/year (assuming a crude oil price of 20/barrel on the world market). 

Starches present in grains or root crops are readily converted to sugars for fermentation to ethanol. With the shortages of food in developing nations, grains would probably not be used for fuel. Therefore, we will consider only sugar crops and molasses to be available for ethanol production. In the initial part of the analysis, we will identify the countries where sufficient sugar is exported or molasses produced to allow production of ethanol to replace 1000 barrels of petroleum fuels. 

TABLE VI BASES AND ASSUMPTIONS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF THE VEHICLE MOUNTED GASIFIER OPTIONS (Replacement of 1000 Barrels/Bay of Petroleum Fuels or 6 x lO- Joules/Day)... 

Although much enthusiasm currently exists for producing ethanol fuels from local sugar crops in developing nations, the results of this very cursory analysis indicate to us that at least one other option could supplement petroleum fuels used in transportation with biomass fuels at comparable or lower capital investments. This option is the use of vehicle-mounted gasifiers. 

On the basis of this cursory analysis, vehicle-mounted biomass gasifiers as well as alcohol fuels appear to us to represent possible means to reduce petroleum fuel use in developing nations. Biomass availability for use as a fuel, however, could restrict the use of the option to only a few LDCs. 

Speight, J. G., Handbook of Petroleum Product Analysis, Wiley-Interscience, Hohoken, NJ, 2002. Kaplan, I. R., Galperin, Y., Alimi, H., Lee, R., and Lu, S., Pattern of chemical changes during environmental alteration of hydrocarbon fuels. Ground Water Monit. Rem., 113-124, 1996, Fall. Leahy, J. G. and Colwell, R. R., Microbial degradation of hydrocarbons in the environment. Microbial. Rev., 54, 305-315, 1990. 

JB Cooper, PE Flecher, TM Vess, WT Welch. Remote fiber-optic Raman analysis of xylene isomers in mock petroleum fuels using a low-cost dispersive instrument and partial least squares regression analysis. Appl Spectrosc 49 586-592, 1995. 

JB Cooper, KL Wise, J Groves, WT Welch. Determination of octane number and Reid vapor pressure of commercial petroleum fuels using FT-Raman spectroscopy and partial least squares regression analysis. Anal Chem 67 4096-4100, 1995. 

The volatility measures lead to significant considerations regarding petroleum coke structiue and reactivity. Traditional methods of fuel analysis provide significant insights as shown above more detailed analyses yield additional measures of significance. 

Although distillation and elemental analysis of the fractions provide a good evaluation of the qualities of a crude oil, they are nevertheless insufficient. Indeed, the numerous uses of petroleum demand a detailed molecular analysis. This is true for all distillation fractions, certain crude oils being valued essentially for their light fractions used in motor fuels, others because they make quality lubricating oils and still others because they make excellent base stocks for paving asphalt. 

Petroleum Industry Gas chromatography is ideally suited for the analysis of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, and oil. A typical chromatogram for the analysis of unleaded gasoline is shown in Figure 12.25d. 

A modem petroleum refinery is a complex system of chemical and physical operations. The cmde oil is first separated by distillahon into fractions such as gasoline, kerosene, and fuel oil. Some of the distillate fractions are converted to more valuable products by cracking, polymerization, or reforming. The products are treated to remove undesirable components, such as sulfur, and then blended to meet the final product specifications. A detailed analysis of the entire petroleum production process, including emissions and controls, is obviously well beyond the scope of this text. 

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