Quantitative composition analysis of natural gas by high-pressure proton low-field NMR spectroscopy: Development of an improved experimental methodology

Abstract

Natural gas (NG) has been proposed as a bridging fuel between fossil and renewable energy sources, playing a significant role in the decarbonization of the energy sector. Its commercial value and the integrity of the NG infrastructure depend on the NG physical properties, which are strongly related to its composition. Thus, the development of low-cost and reliable analytical methods for composition analysis of NG can enable a more efficient operation. Recently, we showed that high-pressure (HP) benchtop 1H NMR spectroscopy combined with indirect hard modelling (IHM) is an efficient and low-cost method for composition quantification of NG. The current work extends this methodology by introducing and testing novel experimental strategies for increasing the reliability and accuracy of the method. This new approach includes the use of a recently published high-pressure tube design and single-scan acquisition combined with novel quality control parameters to obtain highly reproducible peak shape 1H NMR spectra over long periods. The proposed methodology tested on binary, ternary, and more complex mixtures at 200 bar and 160 bar gives compositions in excellent agreement with the vendor certificates.