(50c) Petrochemical Product and Process Control Using Rapid TD-NMR Technology

Petrochemical industries involve various unit operations on raw materials. The upstream processes include exploration of oil from various hydrocarbon sources, such as rock cores, oil sands, and oil shale, development of an extraction process to recover oil from these sources, and large-scale production of the crude oil. The downstream processes include refining process of the crude oil, treatment of the byproducts and waste products, and transportation of the products to retailers and customers. Each process step requires a thorough investigation on the process efficiency and product quality using a fast, accurate, and precise technology. TD-NMR (time domain nuclear magnetic resonance) is a technique which can be utilized to look into the products and physicochemical processes at a molecular level and precisely quantify them, using a small bench-top instrument. It obtains the signal from the atomic nucleus in a material. Mathematical analysis of the TD-NMR signal reveals the changes occurring at a molecular level in a material. Measurements can be done in a matter of a few seconds to obtain a dynamic, quantitative characterization of materials. The entire measurement procedure can be done in a continuous fashion using automated robotic system. In this presentation, the basic principle of TD-NMR technology will be introduced. Various high throughput automated TD-NMR characterizations relevant to product characterization and process development for petrochemical industries will be elaborated. In upstream processes, applications of TD-NMR include but not limited to: examination of petrophysical properties of rock cores, such as bulk porosity, permeability, wettability, pore size distribution, degree of water saturations; quick determination of the capillary pressure curve and fluid exchange between pores. Several applications in downstream processes include determination of the percentage of hydrogen in hydrocarbon mixtures, hydrogen content in coal, oil and moisture content in oil shale and oil sand, oil content in wax/paraffin, viscosity and solid content of oils and lubricants, emulsion stability, droplet size in o/w or w/o emulsions, and impurity quantification. Possible new applications of TD-NMR technology in the petrochemical industry in near future will also be discussed.