Crude Quality Inc. Services
At Crude Quality Inc. we are committed to the highest quality standards in our consulting and analytical services. We have negotiated best customer status with all of our suppliers, and pass on these savings to you. All of the laboratory results are run through our customized reporting system to insure that the information that you are receiving is in a format that is compatible and meaningful to your operations.
Crude Quality Inc. is available to provide consulting services in the areas of crude quality monitoring, testing protocols and procedures for crude quality, and specialty analytical services related to crude oil and refined products quality. Should you have a concern related to crude oil quality, chances are high that we can help, or put you in contact with someone who could better assist you.
We have considerable experience presenting perspectives on crude quality issues to large and small groups of interested people. We also offer technical services to link outside data to LP modeling systems.
Upcoming works in progress include "miniaturization" of crude quality data for ease of transport and quick reference, crude blending simulations, and continuing development of communications between producers, transporters, traders, and refiners of crude oil. Please feel free to contact us to see if we can assist you in your quality efforts!!
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In general, contaminants are materials that are inadvertently, or deliberately, added to crude oil supplies. They are usually added to crude supplies for beneficial reasons (eg corrosion inhibitors, organic chlorides, deicing or hydrate prevention, dispersants in pipelines, ...). Unfortunately, these additives can have negative effects on downstream processes.
The Canadian and American Crude Quality Technical organizations have invested significant time and effort into the field of crude oil contamination. The Crude Oil Quality Group (COQG) have posted information on the Internet from their meetings regarding the subject of crude contamination.
Contaminants can create havoc in the refining of crude oil. They have been known to interfere with the processing of crude oil by disrupting desalting, poisoning catalysts, fouling treater systems, etc. They can also interfere with the certification testing of the finished products.
Determining of the presence of a contaminant in crude or in refined products (qualitative testing), and/or determining the exact concentration of an exact contaminant in crude or in refined products (quantitative testing), usually requires the application of highly specialized techniques to specific circumstances. As such, we recommend that you contact us directly by phone, fax or by e-mail.
Examples of Past Projects
- Sulphur Speciation and Mass Balancing in Whole Crude and Refined Intermediate Streams
- Lubricity Additive Tailback from Diesel to Jet during Pipeline Transportation
- Identification of Polar Contaminants in Finished Products
- Identification of Polar Contaminants on Clay Treaters, in Hydrotreaters and Catalytic Units
- Methanol Contamination of Crude
- Organohalide Contamination of Whole Crude and Heavy Distillate/Gas Oils
- Development of Pipeline Shipping Protocols to Minimize Product Cross Contamination
- Development and Application of Probe MicroDistillation Mass Spectrometry (fingerprinting contaminants, pitch calculations, asphalt analysis, sulphur speciation, ...)
- Identification, Tracking, Mass Balancing Corrosion Products, Drilling Muds, and Other Solids in Pipeline and Refinery Systems
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High Temperature Simulated Distillation (HTSD) provides an economic and rapid turnover replacement of more complicated and lengthy distillation techniques.
Key Benefits
HTSD provides valuable data for the understanding, modeling, and operation of vacuum columns which allows the refiner to deepcut and improve gas oil yield. Because of the $4.00/bbl or more margin of vacuum gas oil as FCC feed vs. vacuum residue as coker feed, deepcut improvements can have significant impact on refinery margins.
HTSD data is routinely used for detecting product adulteration. Because of the enormous quantities of crude processed daily, many forms of product adulteration have been perpetuated on buyers and sellers of crude. One such scheme is the blending of pitch (1000oF+) into crudes. Using HTSD, the cut point value at 1000oF can be calculated on a routine (weekly) basis and plotted to spot product tampering. The excellent precision of HTSD in predicting a selected cutpoint makes the method sensitive enough to spot product tampering when a crude blended with pitch at a level of greater than 1.4% wt (i.e. two times the Std Dev of 0.7%wt at 1000oF).
This procedure is before the approvals committee of the ASTM, and has NOT been approved to the D level at this time. The approvals process is well underway, and a large number of industry representatives are already using HTSD in their day to day business.
Example of "Normal" Crude Supply
Example of Aldulterated Crude Supply
Example of Variability in Crude Quality
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Crude Oil Assays are designed to evaluate whole crude oils and various boiling range fractions contained within the crude oil.The information obtained from the assay can be used for detailed engineering and marketing purposes. An assay can be customized to meet specific requirements.
A crude oil assay involves a physical distillation of the crude oil to generate specific boiling range fractions ("cuts"). Each of the cuts is analyzed for physical and chemical properties, and basic or detailed information is provided regarding the whole crude properties and the individual cut qualities.
If you are interested in obtaining these characteristics for your particular sample of crude, submit the sheet with the list of properties desired by checking the boxes in the form and clicking on the "Submit Form by e-mail" button (this should automatically start your e-mail program and forward the codes for the checked boxes to our e-mail address). We will return your inquiries as soon as possible.
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Should you not be able to find the desired testing request through the above form, CQI can, through our support affiliations, offer a wide ranging variety of hydrocarbon analyses for crude oils and refined products. Please contact us at crudequality.com with your specific request(s).
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