Summary
An optical spectrometer is a laboratory instrument used to analyse a gas sample to determine its composition.
How it Works
An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph, or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials and chemicals.
By measuring the amount of light absorbed or reflected by a sample of an unknown substance it is possible to determine what it is made of and how much of each of its constituent materials it contains.
Figure 1: Schematic of optical spectrometer. (Source: Wikimedia Commons. Full credit to Wikipedia User: Kkmurray. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. No changes have been made to the original file.)
Optical Spectrometers are not widely used in the Oil and Gas Industry.
Advantages
• High accuracy
• Low uncertainty
Limitations
• Mainly a laboratory based method.
• Equipment costs
Go Deeper
Case study
No case study available at this time.
On-line analytical methods involve extracting a sample from a flare system via an automatic sampling system and analysing it continuously with a field installed analyser system.
