Portable chemical detection platform for on-site monitoring of odorant levels in natural gas

Fung, Stephanie; Contreras, Raquel Pimentel; Fung, Alexander G.; Gibson, Patrick; LeVasseur, Michael K.; McCartney, Mitchell M.; Koch, Dylan T.; Chakraborty, Pranay; Chew, Bradley S.; Rajapakse, Maneeshin Y.; Chevy, Daniel A.; Hicks, Tristan L.; Davis, Cristina E.

doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2023.464151

Portable chemical detection platform for on-site monitoring of odorant levels in natural gas

Journal Article · Sun Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Journal of Chromatography

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2023.464151· OSTI ID:2424310

Fung, Stephanie ^[1]; Contreras, Raquel Pimentel ^[1]; Fung, Alexander G. ^[1]; Gibson, Patrick ^[1]; LeVasseur, Michael K. ^[1]; McCartney, Mitchell M. ^[2]; Koch, Dylan T. ^[3]; Chakraborty, Pranay ^[4]; Chew, Bradley S. ^[1]; Rajapakse, Maneeshin Y. ^[1]; Chevy, Daniel A. ^[3]; Hicks, Tristan L. ^[1]; Davis, Cristina E. ^[2]

University of California, Davis, CA (United States); UC Davis Lung Center, CA (United States)
University of California, Davis, CA (United States); UC Davis Lung Center, CA (United States); VA Northern California Health Care System, Mather, CA (United States)
UC Davis Lung Center, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA (United States); University of California, Davis, CA (United States)
University of California, Davis, CA (United States); UC Davis Lung Center, CA (United States); Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, AR (United States)

The adequate odorization of natural gas is critical to identify gas leaks and to reduce accidents. To ensure odorization, natural gas utility companies collect samples to be processed at core facilities or a trained human technician smells a diluted natural gas sample. In this work, we report a detection platform that addresses the lack of mobile solutions capable of providing quantitative analysis of mercaptans, a class of compounds used to odorize natural gas. Detailed description of the platform hardware and software components is provided. Designed to be portable, the platform hardware facilitates extraction of mercaptans from natural gas, separation of individual mercaptan species, and quantification of odorant concentration, with results reported at point-of-sampling. The software was developed to accommodate skilled users as well as minimally trained operators. Detection and quantification of six commonly used mercaptan compounds (ethyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide, n-propylmercaptan, isopropyl mercaptan, tert–butyl mercaptan, and tetrahydrothiophene) at typical odorizing concentrations of 0.1–5 ppm was performed using the device. We demonstrate the potential of this technology to ensure natural gas odorizing concentrations throughout distribution systems.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Institutes of Health (NIH); Department of Veterans Affairs; University of California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program; National Science Foundation (NSF); US Department of Education

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 2424310

Journal Information:: Journal of Chromatography, Journal Name: Journal of Chromatography Journal Issue: C Vol. 1705; ISSN 0021-9673

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Chemical sensors
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Gas chromatography
Mercaptans
Natural gas
Odorants

Portable chemical detection platform for on-site monitoring of odorant levels in natural gas

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