Real Time Colour Analysers for Pipeline Measurements Achieve ROI within Days

Many liquid product specifications are based on colour measurements. Changes in colour can be an indicator of final product quality as well as a means to control process variables when implemented in real time. There are different colour “scales” that apply to different products or industries. Some common examples are Saybolt, ASTM, and APHA (aka Platinum-Cobalt, or Hazen). Measuring the Saybolt or ASTM colour online is a key parameter in many light hydrocarbon mixes for quality control to detect the C6+ hydrocarbon carryover. Monitoring the color allows the refinery to verify that the product is within specification. Any “out-of-spec” product can be reprocessed before being sold.

For example, given the large volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) under transport, ROI from using real-time measurement systems, such as Guided Wave’s Saybolt Colour Analyser, can be measured in days. Prior to liquefaction, residual materials are removed with only clean hydrocarbons remaining. The composition of natural gas can vary slightly from different producing locations. Typically LNG is a colorless material, but during distillation the carryover of larger hydrocarbons (C6+) can affect the color of LNG.

Guided Wave’s new Saybolt Colour Analyser is based on the adaptive ClearView® db platform. The ClearView db instrument can be programmed to measure many different parameters of many different samples, i.e., it can be adapted to customers’ current and future measurement needs without significant hardware changes and with few restrictions.

Since the ClearView db analyser can be configured for different colour scale measurements, it is possible to have a two channel ClearView db analyser configured for two different colour measurements such as ASTM (D1500, D1524) and Saybolt, accomplishing both measurements with one analyser simultaneously saving customers time and money. The Saybolt Colour Analyser is calibrated for Saybolt and is a ready-to-go solution for accurate, real-time, reliable fuel quality and control results.

Guided Wave colour analysers are built on the proven multi-wavelength ClearView db technology. This filter photometer is a dual beam design that provides increased stability and higher accuracy over other single beam photometers. The complete “ready-to-go” analytical systems from Guided Wave consist of the analyser (photometer), fibre optic cables, the sample interface (probe or flow cell) and control software and pre-calibration to the specific colour application.