Monitoring Ppb Monomer Impurities and Catalyst Poisons with Process GC-MS

Impurities in ethylene and propylene product streams are costing you money. The price that you can demand for your product is directly related to potential trace impurities such as fixed gases, hydrocarbons, sulfurs, and oxygenates. The catalysts required to produce polymers are poisoned by even low levels of common contaminants which reduce catalyst efficiency, reduce yields, increase maintenance and catalyst replacement, all of which lowers profits. Real-time monitoring, with process gas chromatographs, is required for early detection and mitigation of the significant financial impacts of impurities in monomer streams.

Traditional process gas chromatographs (PGCs) most commonly use isothermal ovens and packed columns. As a result, traditional PGCs can only offer ppm detection levels of just a few contaminants per analyzer. Multiple instruments are required to address the broad spectrum of potential monomer impurities. Importantly, some analytes of interest are not addressable by typical PGCs and require measurement with laboratory instruments.

Wasson-ECE has been delivering the most capable process GCs to the HPI market for over 25 years. Our newest line of process analyzers, Eclipse Process GCs, specialize in measurement of ppb levels of trace impurities.

The Eclipse Monomer Analyzer delivers results on the full spectrum of impurities in high value monomer streams. Hydrocarbons (C1-C20), permanent gases (H₂, oxygen, nitrogen, CO, CO₂), metal hydrides (AsH₃, PH_3), and sulfurs (H₂S, COS, mercaptans) are monitored. Eclipse patented micro-convection oven technology provides ideal conditions for temperature programming and capillary chromatography which were previously restricted to lab GCs. MSD, PDHID, and FID detectors are used for very sensitive and unambiguous quantitation of dozens of impurities. Multiplexing and parallel chromatography deliver results in a fraction of the time required to complete these analyses by laboratory instruments. Additionally, this single analyzer delivers results for a diverse range of analytes which would typically require 4-6 traditional PGCs and the shelter space to house them.

Real-time, on-line, and lab-quality analysis of ppb impurities in monomer streams is finally a reality with the Eclipse Monomer Analyzer. This presentation will provide a technical overview of the instrument and share a data set obtained from the analysis of polymer-grade ethylene.