On-line, at-line, in-line, CFMS, and other near-real time monitoring systems that measure fuel gas characteristics, such as the sulfur content, are prevalent in the natural gas and fuel gas industries. The installation and operation of particular systems vary on the specific objectives, contractual obligations, process type, regulatory requirements, and internal performance requirements needed by the user. This standard is intended to provide guidelines for standardized start-up procedures, operating procedures, and quality assurance practices for on-line, at-line, in-line, CFMS, and other near-real time gas chromatographic based sulfur monitoring systems used to determine fuel gas sulfur content. For measurement of gaseous fuel properties using laboratory based methods the user is referred to Test Methods D1072, D1945, D4084, D4468, D4810 and Practices D4626, E594.

1. Scope

1.1    This practice is for the determination of volatile sulfur-containing compounds in high methane content gaseous fuels such as natural gas using on-line/at-line instrumentation, and continuous fuel monitors (CFMS). It has been successfully applied to other types of gaseous samples including air, digester, landfill, and refinery fuel gas. The detection range for sulfur compounds, reported as picograms sulfur, based upon the analysis of a 1 cc sample, is one hundred (100) to one million (1,000,000). This is equivalent to 0.1 to 1,000 mg/m3.

1.2 This practice does not purport to measure all sulfur species in a sample. Only volatile compounds that are transported to an instrument under the measurement conditions selected are measured.

1.3 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as standard. No other units of measurement are included in this standard..

1.4 This practice does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this practice to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.

ASTM Standards

D1072 Test Method for Total Sulfur in Fuel Gases by Combustion and Barium Chloride Titration

D1945 Test Method for Analysis of Natural Gas by Gas Chromatography

D3606 Test Method for Determination of Benzene and Toluene in Finished Motor and Aviation Gasoline by Gas Chromatography

D3764 Practice for Validation of the Performance of Process Stream Analyzer Systems

D4084 Test Method for Analysis of Hydrogen Sulfide in Gaseous Fuels (Lead Acetate Reaction Rate Method)

D4468 Test Method for Total Sulfur in Gaseous Fuels by Hydrogenolysis and Rateometric Colorimetry

D4626 Practice for Calculation of Gas Chromatographic Response Factors

D4810 Test Method for Hydrogen Sulfide in Natural Gas Using Length-of-Stain Detector Tubes

D5504 Test Method for Determination of Sulfur Compounds in Natural Gas and Gaseous Fuels by Gas Chromatography and Chemiluminescence

D6122 Practice for Validation of the Performance of Multivariate Online, At-Line, and Laboratory Infrared Spectrophotometer Based Analyzer Systems

D6228 Test Method for Determination of Sulfur Compounds in Natural Gas and Gaseous Fuels by Gas Chromatography and Flame Photometric Detection

D6621 Practice for Performance Testing of Process Analyzers for Aromatic Hydrocarbon Materials

E594 Practice for Testing Flame Ionization Detectors Used in Gas or Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

ISO Standards

Keywords

at-line monitor; continuous fuel monitor ; on-line monitor; sulfur compounds; Gas chromatography (GC); Gaseous fuels; Monitoring; Online monitoring; Sulfur compounds

ICS Code

Citing ASTM Standards

[Back to Top]