Natural gas is the cleanest burning of all fossil fuels. It is used to produce electricity, for heat production in urban environment, and for many other residential, commercial and industrial applications. It also constitute an important source of hydrogen for fuel cells.

Natural gas comprises many different chemicals, including mostly methane (approx. 70%), and several other hydrocarbons such as ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), Butane (C4H10), Pentane (C5H12) accounting together for approx. 20% of the total. It also includes impurities, mostly carbon bioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S).

These impurities must be removed before the natural gas can be used.

Monitoring the yield efficiency of removal of these impurities is critical to processing natural gas. This is particularly true of H2S removal. Such monitoring must be done using in-line real-time measurement methods that feature high reliability, high precision, insensitivity to cross response and very low levels of detection. These analyzer also must be as low maintenance as possible.

The Proceas GAZNAT, based on the patented OFCEAS (Optical Feedback Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy) technology coupled to the patented low pressure sampling technology enables the measurement of these gases in natural gases.

Measurement of these compounds (CH4, CO2, H2S and H2O; O2 as an option):

- is reliable;

- is very low maintenance;

- is insensitive to cross response phenomena (despite the very wide scale of concentrations measured, from ppm?s for H2S to 10's of % for CH4 and CO2);

- has very low levels of detection;

- has response times measured in seconds;

- has a wide dynamic concentration range (e.g. H2S 0.5% at the beginning of the process to less than 10 ppm at the end of the process);

does not experience instrumental response drift (self-standardization);

- does not require regularly schedule re-calibration (self-calibrating direct measurement);

- does not require sample conditioning; and

- is a laser spectrometer capable of multi-components analysis.

Additionally and since one of the products resulting from natural gas processing is pure hydrogen (H2) for use in fuel cells, the Proceas is also proposed for the real-time trace level detection of impurities such as CH4, H2S, CO2 and CO in pure hydrogen.

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