Determination of Hydrogen Content of Petroleum Products from Tema Oil Refinery Using Neutron Backscatter Technique

ABSTRACT 

The hydrogen content of hydrocarbon materials is very important in several areas of industrial process such as mining, vegetable oil extraction and crude oil exploration and refining. A fast and more universal technique based on thermal neutron reflection was employed to determine the total hydrogen contents of petroleum samples from Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and Crude oil samples from Jubilee field and Nigeria. The experimental set-up consisted of a source-holder housing a 1Ci Am-Be neutron source and a He-3 neutron detector. Two geometrical arrangements were considered and their sensitivities were compared. The set-up was used to measure the excess neutron count in both geometrical considerations and their reflection parameters were calculated as a function of hydrogen content of the samples. Calibration lines were deduced using liquid hydrocarbons containing well-known hydrogen and carbon contents as standards. Two linear equations were generated from the calibration lines and were used to further determine the hydrogen content of thirteen (13) petroleum samples obtained from Quality Control Department of TOR. The total hydrogen contents were found to be in the range of 7.211(hw %) - 15.069 (hw %) for vertical geometry and 7.206 (hw %) - 14.948 (hw %) for horizontal geometry respectively. The results obtained agreed constructively with other results obtained using different methodologies by other studies. The percentage error of the hydrogen contents denoted by (% E) for the various petroleum samples were also obtained and noticed to be within an acceptable range. The neutron backscatter technique was observed as an alternative and more generalized method for quality assurance and standardization in the petroleum industries.