Verax Technology Basics
The Verax analyzer is an optical analyzer that utilizes spectroscopy and chemometrics to determine the chemical composition and physical properties of a hydrocarbon stream. With real-time analysis, no moving parts, higher reliability, and lower installation and maintenance costs, the Verax outperforms traditional oil and gas analyzers across the board.
The working principle of the Verax is straightforward: light is directed through a hydrocarbon stream and detected on the opposite side. The spectral absorbance (light that does not make it all the way through the hydrocarbon) is measured and interpreted with chemometrics to give a detailed analysis of the process stream.
Similar technology has been used in refineries, petrochemical plants, food and beverage facilities, and pharmaceutical manufacturing for decades. However, the Verax analyzer is the first device to make the technology deployable in the harsh field conditions required by the oil and gas industry. As a result, Verax technology provides excellent reliability and durability for years of service and allows oil and gas companies to benefit from measurements and data that was previously unavailable.
What is spectroscopy?
Absorption spectroscopy is a scientific technique that measures how much light is absorbed by various material and compounds. In combination with chemometric analysis, absorption spectroscopy can be used to quickly and accurately characterize and quantify many key properties of the measured material.
What light spectrum does the Verax use?
The electromagnetic spectrum is much more than the visible range and includes infrared light, ultraviolet light, radio waves, microwaves and X-rays. The Verax uses the “Near Infrared” (or NIR) spectrum to measure hydrocarbons because these molecules are highly sensitive to this range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
How does the Verax use spectroscopy in hydrocarbon measurement?
In simple terms, a laser light source that scans a portion of the NIR spectrum is directed through the hydrocarbon stream. Any light that is not absorbed is then collected by the detector.
The difference between the light that is generated (reference scan) and what the detector receives (product scan) produces the absorption spectra, as determined by Beer’s Law. The absorption spectra contains valuable information about the chemistry and composition of the hydrocarbon stream.
What is chemometrics and how does it help measure hydrocarbons?
The next step is to convert this absorption spectra information into meaningful output about the composition of the hydrocarbon. This is accomplished using chemometrics, a relatively new area of science at the intersection of chemistry and mathematics with advances being developed every year. Chemometrics is used to turn large volumes of complex data into useful and actionable information. In the case of the Verax analyzer, advanced chemometric analysis techniques are applied to determine accurate and precise information about hydrocarbon process streams.
Accurate, real-time information and lower costs
By using this optical technique combining spectroscopy and chemometrics, the Verax is able to produce real time information with no moving parts and no sampling system. This results in much faster and reliable information, high instrument uptime and close to zero maintenance costs.
