Petroleum Analyzer Certification via Sample Recirculation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for certifying the composition and properties of petroleum refinery products often result in discrepancies between on-line analyzer values and off-line laboratory measurements, leading to increased manufacturing costs due to the need for adjusted targets and higher usage of expensive components to ensure compliance with regulatory and contractual specifications.
Innovation Solution
The method involves using on-line process analyzers to both monitor and certify the composition and properties of petroleum refinery products by re-introducing a representative sample into the same analyzers for analysis, eliminating the variability between on-line and off-line measurement systems and reducing the manufacturing offset.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If off-line laboratory analysis is used for final certification, then measurement accuracy and reliability are improved, but manufacturing cost increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the on-line process analyzer and off-line laboratory certification functions by using the same on-line analyzer for both process control and final product certification. This eliminates the need for separate off-line laboratory analysis, thereby maintaining measurement accuracy while improving productivity by enabling continuous manufacturing without waiting for separate lab results.
Solution Approach 2:
The on-line process analyzer is given multiple functions: it serves both for real-time process control during manufacturing and for final product certification. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for dedicated off-line laboratory equipment for certification, reducing overall system complexity and increasing manufacturing efficiency while maintaining certification reliability.
2Reliability
If manufacturing targets are adjusted farther from specification values, then compliance reliability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the on-line analyzer continuously monitors product properties and provides real-time feedback to the control system. This allows for dynamic adjustment of manufacturing parameters to maintain compliance with specifications, eliminating the need to set conservative offset targets and thereby reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining high compliance reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes manufacturing parameters based on real-time analyzer feedback to optimize both compliance and cost. By continuously monitoring and adjusting parameters rather than using fixed conservative targets, the system achieves specification compliance without the need for expensive offset adjustments in the blend recipe.
3Productivity
If on-line process analyzers are used for both monitoring and certification, then productivity is improved, but measurement precision may deteriorate due to system variability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the certification function from the traditional off-line laboratory setting and integrates it into the on-line process analyzer system. By doing so, the same instrument that monitors the process also provides the certification measurement, eliminating variability between different measurement systems and maintaining precision while enabling continuous manufacturing.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention uses the one or more on-line process analyzers that monitor the manufacture of petroleum products, such as gasoline or diesel fuel, to analyze and/or certify that the manufactured product meets regulatory and/or contractual requirements. The analysis is performed by re-introducing a manually or automatically collected sample that is representative of the manufactured product back into the one or more process analyzers. The results obtained for the representative sample from the on-line process analyzers are then used to represent the quality of the manufactured batch of petroleum material to certify that the manufactured batch meets regulatory, specification and/or contractual requirements.