New Software for Simulated Distillation of Petrochemical Products by Gas Chromatography

In order that refineries plants can optimise the distillation of petroleum products in its different fractions, it is necessary to run preliminary tests before scale-up. To avoid long and difficult pilot distillation tests in the lab, Gas Chromatography is often used to simulate the fractionation of crude oil. This simulated distillation method is based on the separation of fractions of different boiling points by gas chromatography.

Alpha MOS (France) launches AlphaSimDist, a stand-alone software module, usable with any gas chromatograph of the market that makes this Simulated Distillation easier.

The user first selects the reference compounds mixtures recommended by the standard applicable to the crude oil considered. The analysis of this mixture will allow to calculate the boiling points of the various fractions. Then, the acquisition of the chromatograms of the reference mixture, a blank sample and the oil sample is achieved.

The calibration mixture chromatogram is integrated and the peaks identified. The blank chromatogram is subtracted from the oil chromatogram. Finally, the boiling points and percentages of each fraction are calculated and edited in a report.

The user is guided all through the method, and gets the results in less than 2 minutes.

The software is compliant with the main standards in effect: ASTM D2887, ASTM D3710, ASTM D6352, ASTM D7169.

Alpha MOS also proposes a turnkey system including a gas chromatograph with multi-injector and high temperature FID (optional cryogenic kit), the dedicated software for system monitoring and data processing and ready-to-use kits that provide all necessary materials and consumables to run the analyses based on standards recommendations.