Determination of Trace Nitrogen in Liquid Petroleum Hydrocarbons by Oxidative Combustion and Chemiluminescence Detection According to ASTM D4629 resp. DIN 51444 Application Note · multi EA 5100

Introduction

Refinery samples like fuels (diesel, platformer, etc.) are mixtures of various hydrocarbons that are produced during the fractionated distillation of crude oil. Their boiling intervals are mainly in the range of 150 to 390 °C. In general they are used as fuel for automobiles or as combustibles. They can contain traces of organically bound chlorine, sulfur and nitrogen originating either from natural sources or from additives. During combustion of the fuel, these compounds form environmental pollutants. As these pollutants are hazardous to the human health and the environment, their content (N, S, Cl) should be kept as low as possible. Another aspect is their effect on the performance and life time of catalysts used in several process steps. A too high content of these undesired elements can remarkably affect the quality of the products as well as the activity of the catalyst (poisoning). To ensure the product quality and adhere to legal limit values a permanent quality control is essential.

The multi EA 5100 is specifically optimized for the fast and trouble-free determination of nitrogen contents in a wide concentration range. Combining catalyst-free high-temperature combustion and effective gas purification and drying with the highly sensitive HiPerSens detection, it allows the detection of nitrogen at concentrations ranging from 10 µg/L up to 10,000 mg/L with one and the same device.