ABSTRACT
Biomethane is a renewable energy gas with great potential to contribute to the diversification and greening of the natural gas supply. Ideally, biomethane can directly be injected into the natural gas grid system. For grid injection, specifications such as those in EN 16723-1 shall be met. One of the impurities to be monitored is hydrogen chloride (HCl). To assess conformity with the specification for HCl, accurate and reliable test methods are required. Here, we report the development of three novel test methods, based on a variety of laser absorption spectroscopy techniques (Direct absorption spectroscopy-DAS and wavelength modulation spectroscopy-WMS) and ion-exchange chromatography, for the measurement of HCl in biomethane. Gas mixtures of HCl in biomethane were used to demonstrate the performance of the spectroscopic systems in the nmol mol-1 to low µmol mol-1 ranges, achieving uncertainties in the 4% range, k = 2. For ion-exchange chromatography analysis, HCl was first collected on an alkali-impregnated quartz fiber filter. The analysis was performed according to ISO 21438-2 and validated using synthetic biomethane spiked with HCl. The relative expanded uncertainties for the ion exchange chromatography HCl measurements are in the 10-37% range, k = 2. The results presented for the 3 test methods demonstrate that the respective methods can be used for HCl conformity assessment in biomethane.
ABSTRACT
The effects of thermal boundary layers on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) measurement results must be quantified when using the line-of-sight (LOS) TDLAS under conditions with spatial temperature gradient. In this paper, a new methodology based on spectral simulation is presented quantifying the LOS TDLAS measurement deviation under conditions with thermal boundary layers. The effects of different temperature gradients and thermal boundary layer thickness on spectral collisional widths and gas concentration measurements are quantified. A CO2 TDLAS spectrometer, which has two gas cells to generate the spatial temperature gradients, was employed to validate the simulation results. The measured deviations and LOS averaged collisional widths are in very good agreement with the simulated results for conditions with different temperature gradients. We demonstrate quantification of thermal boundary layers' thickness with proposed method by exploitation of the LOS averaged the collisional width of the path-integrated spectrum.
ABSTRACT
We report on an interband cascade laser (ICL)-absorption spectrometer for absolute, calibration-free, atmospheric CO amount fraction measurements, addressing direct traceability of the results. The system combines first-principles direct tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (dTDLAS) with a metrological validation. Using a multipath cell with 76 m path length, our detection limit is 0.5 nmol/mol at Δt=14 s. The system is highly linear (slope: 0.999±0.008) in the amount fraction range of 0.1-1000 µmol/mol and thus is interesting for industrial as well as environmental applications. The sensor repeatability at 300 nmol/mol is 0.06 nmol/mol (with Δt=10 min). The sensor's absolute response is in excellent agreement with the gravimetric values of a set of primary gas standards used to test the sensor accuracy. The relative expanded uncertainty (k=2) of the measured CO amount fraction is 2.8%. Due to this performance and the calibration-free approach, the spectrometer may be used as an optical transfer standard (OTS) if gas standards are for whatever reason not available or applicable, e.g., for airborne instruments. Our dTDLAS approach has shown excellent stability and accuracy in H2O detection [Appl. Phys. B116, 883 (2014)APPCDL0721-726910.1007/s00340-014-5775-4] even when compared to primary standards. We therefore deduce that the ICL spectrometer (after its adaptation to field conditions, similar to our H2O spectrometers) has good potential to meet the 2 nmol/mol compatibility goal stated by the World Meteorological Organization for atmospheric CO measurements, and serve as an OTS which does not need frequent calibrations using reference gases.
ABSTRACT
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a key greenhouse gas and a major ozone-depleting anthropogenic pollutant monitored by the total carbon column observing network (TCCON) in the 0002-0000-band of its main isotopologue. Here, we present highly accurate line strengths for this window determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with pressure, temperature, and optical path length being metrologically traceable to the SI. The obtained results agree with previous studies within the given uncertainties. Depending on the respective rovibrational transition, the present uncertainties could be reduced by a factor of 5 to 83 in comparison to literature data.
ABSTRACT
We report a new direct tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (dTDLAS) sensor for absolute measurements of H2O in methane, ethane, propane, and low CO2 natural gas. The sensor is operated with a 2.7 µm DFB laser, equipped with a high pressure single pass gas cell, and used to measure H2O amount of substance fractions in the range of 0.31-25 000 µmol/mol. Operating total gas pressures are up to 5000 hPa. The sensor has been characterized, addressing the traceability of the spectrometric results to the SI and the evaluation of the combined uncertainty, following the guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM). The relative reproducibility of H2O amount of substance fraction measurements at 87 µmol/mol is 0.26% (0.23 µmol/mol). The maximum precision of the sensor was determined using a H2O in methane mixture, and found to be 40 nmol/mol for a time resolution of 100 s. This corresponds to a normalized detection limit of 330 nmol mol-1·m Hz-1/2. The relative combined uncertainty of H2O amount fraction measurements delivered by the sensor is 1.2%.
ABSTRACT
Simultaneous detection of two analytes, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor (H2O), has been realized using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) with a single distributed feedback diode laser at 2.7 µm. The dynamic range of the spectrometer is extended from the low parts per million to the percentage range using two gas cells, a single-pass cell with 0.77 m, and a Herriott-type multipass cell with 76 m path length. Absolute measurements were carried out, i.e., amount fractions of the analytes were calculated based on previously determined spectral line parameters, without the need for an instrument calibration using gas standards. A thorough metrological characterization of the spectrometer is presented. We discuss traceability of all parameters used for amount fraction determination and provide a comprehensive uncertainty assessment. Relative expanded uncertainties (k = 2, 95% confidence level) of the measured amount fractions are shown to be in the 2-3% range for both analytes. Minimum detectable amount fractions are 0.16 µmol/mol for CO2 and 1.1 µmol/mol for H2O for 76 m path length and 5 s averaging time. This corresponds to normalized detection limits of 27 µmol/mol m Hz(-1/2) for CO2 and 221 µmol/mol m Hz(-1/2) for H2O. Precision of the spectrometer, determined using Allan variance analysis, is 3.3 nmol/mol for CO2 and 21 nmol/mol for H2O. The spectrometer has been validated using reference gas mixtures with known CO2 and H2O amount fractions. An application example of the absolute TDLAS spectrometer as a reference instrument to validate other sensors is also presented.
ABSTRACT
Recently, results for the CO(2) R(12) line strength parameter have been reported, which differ significantly and are inconsistent with respect to quoted uncertainties. We investigate to what extent this inconsistency might be caused by the chosen data analysis methods. To this end, we assess and compare a parametric fitting procedure and a non-parametric approach. We apply the methods to simulated and measured line spectra, and we specify the conditions required for the safe application of the two procedures. For our present data, the corresponding conditions are satisfied for both methods, and consistent results are obtained. However, the simulations reveal that the fitting procedure can show shortcomings when the uncertainty in the wavenumber is large.
