Raman analyzer for sensitive natural gas composition analysis

Raman spectroscopy is of significant importance in industrial gas analysis due to its unique capability of quantitative multigas measurement, especially diatomics ($N2$ and $H2$), with a single laser. This paper presents the development of a gas analyzer system based on high pressure Raman scattering in a multipass Raman cell and demonstrates its feasibility for real-time natural gas analysis. A 64-pass Raman cell operated at elevated pressure (5 bar) is used to create multiplicative enhancement (proportional to number of passes times pressure) of the natural gas Raman signal. A relatively low power 532-nm continuous wave laser beam (200 mW) is used as the source and the signals are measured through a cooled charge-coupled device grating spectrometer (30-s exposure). A hybrid algorithm based on background-correction and least-squares error minimization is used to estimate gas concentrations. Individual gas component concentration repeatability of the order of 0.1% is demonstrated. Further, the applicability of the technique for natural gas analysis is demonstrated through measurements on calibrated gas mixtures. Experimental details, analyzer characterization, and key measurements are presented to demonstrate the performance of the technique.