Process for analysis of asphaltene content in hydrocarbon mixtures by middle infrared spectroscopy

摘要

Asphaltene concentration of a hydrocarbon feed is measured by IR spectroscopy using mid-range IR frequencies between 3800 cm.sup.-1 and 650 cm.sup.-1 (corresponding to wavelengths between 2630 nanometers (nm) and 15,380 nm) together with mathematical techniques and statistical techniques in which measurements of absorption are made, and combines these with multiple regression analysis, or other statistical technique and modeling to determine asphaltene concentration. The output signal can be used to control refinery and chemical processes, e.g., atmospheric crude column, vacuum distillation column, solvent deasphalting and visbreaking.