Excessive amounts of moisture in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) such as butane can seriously damage petrochemical infrastructure. Pipelines can corrode, valves freeze solid, and the calorific value of the product is much lower.
While other techniques such as the valve freezing method provide an estimate of the dryness of a gas, these techniques are unable to determine the exact amount of water present in the sample matrix. Using the 875 KF Gas Analyzer, the water content can be determined quantitatively and fully automatically. A sample of liquid butane is drawn from the gas cylinder and heated to bring it into the gaseous state. The gas volume is determined with a mass flow meter and then introduced into a coulometric Karl Fischer (KF) titration cell for water determination. By using the established coulometric KF titration method, the water can also be quantified reliably and fully automatically for water contents in the low ppm range.