Blending Process Analytics

Maximizing margins is essential if the refinery is to survive in today’s market. Blending analytical systems play a major part in capturing the value in gasoline, especially where the plant has varying feedstocks, limited storage, changing regulatory environment and tighter product specifications. Whether blending from component tanks or hot rundown streams directly off a unit, PAC’s suite of products and solutions enhance the gasoline blending process, eliminate uncertainty, allow refineries to achieve online certification of the final product.

Ethanol Blend Optimizer

Refineries face challenges in achieving gasoline product quality specifications due to the impact of ethanol on critical properties like octane, vapor pressure, and distillation. Producing a blendstock for Oxygenates Blending (BOB) with conservative quality properties is necessary to ensure the final gasoline meets specifications after ethanol addition. Conventional blending methods rely on online analyzers for control and certification, but limitations arise with BOB blending. PAC’s Icon Scientific Ethanol Blend Optimizer uses a patented system with precision piston cylinders to mix BOB/ethanol samples with remarkable accuracy (>±0.05%), eliminating uncertainty in blending, ensuring precise control and minimizing property giveaway.

Vapor Pressure

Measuring vapor pressure helps refiners gauge a gasoline’s readiness to vaporize during combustion, which is essential for engine operation, especially during cold starts. Excessive vapor pressure can lead to vapor lock, disrupting fuel flow. Refineries balance vapor pressure against regulatory limits to reduce environmental impact while maintaining engine reliability. PAC’s vapor pressure analyzer uses laser technology to measure a wide range of temperatures and vapor-liquid ratios, helping refineries achieve on-spec gasoline formulations that ensure engine functionality, environmental responsibility, and regulatory compliance.

Distillation

Distillation segregates hydrocarbon components based on their unique boiling points. By heating mixtures such as crude oil, distillation vaporizes constituents and then condenses them back into liquid fractions, exploiting the boiling point disparities among hydrocarbons for separation. PAC’s Icon Scientific distillation analyzer uses proven laser level technology for precise distillation recovery monitoring. With a standard measuring range of between 0-430°C, the distillation analyzer performs a small-scale distillation using 20 mL of sample under temperature-controlled conditions.

Octane

Octane measurement is used in gasoline blending to support engine performance, manage costs, and ensure compliance with standards and regulations. PAC’s solutions use mathematical calculations to help refineries blend gasoline to meet specific quality standards. These calculations use blend octane numbers that are added on a volumetric basis to determine the true octane of the blend. By strategically blending components, refineries create fuels that power vehicles efficiently and reliably, maintaining a delicate balance between performance, economics, and regulatory requirements.

Aromatics

Refineries measure aromatics like benzene, toluene, and xylene in gasoline blending with the goal of enhancing the octane rating of gasoline blends. PAC uses gas chromatography to quantify aromatic hydrocarbons, ensuring proper blending ratios and compliance with regulatory standards.