Hydrocarbon Analyser to Detect Oil Spills

Oils and hydrocarbons in general are, very often, the main components of a wide range of products, going from fuels to solvents to many of the chemicals used in the industry during their treatment processes. In industrial production it is possible that some of these hydrocarbons, oils and solvents leak into drains, or worse, directly into the environment. Similarly domestic and agricultural fuel storage can result in accidental spills into water courses and aquifers. This can be a real and huge problem for water supplies and, in the worst case, threaten the water security of whole communities. Often, these accidents result into huge fines and expensive cleaning-up operations. An Oil in Water Analyser can make the difference, by giving an early warning when a problem arises.

Oil In Water Analyser (MS1200)

An “Oil In Water” monitor , such as the MS1200, measures very low concentrations of hydrocarbons dissolved in the water; this is what we are usually interested to know as it provides the first indication that an oil spill or fuel spill has occurred. The operating range of the MS1200 Oil in Water Analyser is 0 – 3000 ppb, but most applications focus on the 0 – 200 ppb range: As the manager of a drinking water plant , you want your oil in water monitor to give you a low level alarm at around 20 ppb and a high level alarm at 50 – 100 ppb.

This means that, in most cases our MS1200, is used for applications where the operator of the WTP has carried out a risk analysis and has decided to protect their water intakes from low level contamination of oil in water or where there has been known to have been a fuel spill and monitoring of the aquifer is necessary. Moreover the MS1200 oil in Water Analyser will detect any hydrocarbon, both aliphatic (chains) and aromatic (rings). This means that, compared with other technologies, it can see a wider range of hydrocarbons at very low concentrations.

Oil In Water Analysers (Other Technologies)

Oil in Water Monitors or Analysers are different in principle as they are designed to detect a floating film of oil or fuel on top of a body of water. By definition this means that they detect hydrocarbons at a much higher concentration than an Oi in Water Analyser. The system usually work by using a laser positioned above the water and a detector which measure the reflected laser beam. The presence of a floating film will disperse the reflected laser beam and this loss can be measured. This technology is usually cheaper than an e-nose based system and it’s usable when the application is to measure high concentrations. Oil on Water Detectors are usually used to detect gross leakage from oil and fuel storage sites.

On the other hand there are some limitations:

1. It is affected by disturbance of the water surface : since it’s an optical measurement, the reflected laser will be disturbed by the rough water surface
2. It cannot measure low concentrations
3. It cannot detect hydrocarbons which are readily dissolved in the water as these will not form a film