A break from traditional complex Hydrocarbon analysis

Modern refineries face numerous operational challenges. These challenges include acquiring accurate data, dealing with instrumentation maintenance and downtime, and facing long and cumbersome analyses. Every one of these challenges ultimately impact operational efficiency.

The analysis of complex hydrocarbon mixtures should be simple, fast, and, most importantly, accurate. There are many analyzers on the market that touch upon these points, but there is only one that is reshaping the landscape of fuels analysis; the VUV PIONA+ Analyser from VUV Analytics™. Combining the operational simplicity of a flame ionisation detector with the depth of data provided by mass spectrometry, the VUV PIONA+ Analyser brings newfound analytical power to PIONA analysis while being fully compliant with ASTM method D8071.

Traditional PIONA analysers are reliant upon precise valve timing and trap temperature setups. Often, having some prior knowledge of the samples of interest (e.g. light naphtha vs heavy naphtha) is also required of many analysers. The VUV PIONA+ Analyser provides a straight-forward method setup procedure, with no pre-column tuning, valve timing adjustments, or trap temperature calibrations. Changing methods does not require recalibration, therefore downtime is minimised, leading to faster results.

At the heart of the analyser is the VGA-100 spectrometer which collects absorbance spectra from 125 – 240 nm, known as the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) range. How is VUV different from UV/Vis? Almost all molecules absorb in the VUV range, and every analyte is uniquely responsive to VUV. This means every analyte has a VUV absorption spectrum unique to that analyte which can in turn be matched to a predefined library for absolute identification and quantitation. Analyses performed using the VUV PIONA+ Analyzer are also faster than traditional methods given that VUV Analyze™ can tackle co-eluting compounds among various species and hydrocarbon classes by employing spectral deconvolution, a feature unique to the VUV PIONA+ Analyser.

Included with the VUV PIONA+ Analyser is VUV Analyze™, the analytical software engine which makes automated hydrocarbon analysis possible for operators of any skill level. VUV Analyze™ streamlines data processing by automating the identification of analytes by using the unique VUV spectral fingerprints collected by the VGA-100 and classifying them by carbon number and class. Reliance on the proper timing and operation of valves and traps is no longer necessary.