Mass Spectrometric Calibration Procedure for Real-Time Detection of Lighter Hydrocarbons

Determining gas compositions from live well fluids on a drilling rig is critical for real time formation evaluation. Development and utilization of a reliable mass spectrometric method to accurately characterize these live well fluids are always challenging due to lack of a robust and effectively selective instrument and procedure. The methods currently utilized need better calibration for the characterization of light hydrocarbons (C 1 –C 6 ) at lower concentrations. The primary goal of this research is to develop and optimize a powerful and reliable analytical method to characterize live well fluid using a quadruple mass spectrometer (MS). The mass spectrometers currently being used in the field have issues with detection, spectra deconvolution, and quantification of analytes at lower concentrations (10–500 ppm), particularly for the lighter (<30 m/z ) hydrocarbons. The objectives of the present study are thus to identify the detection issues, develop and optimize a better method, calibrate and QA/QC the MS, and validate the MS method in lab settings. In this study, we used two mass spectrometers to develop a selective and precise method to quantitatively analyze low level lighter analytes (C 1 –C 6 hydrocarbons) with masses <75 m/z at concentrations 10–500 ppm. Our results suggest that proper mass selection like using base peaks with m/z 15, 26, 41, 43, 73, and 87, respectively, for methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, and hexane can help detect and accurately quantify hydrocarbons from gas streams. This optimized method in quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) will be invaluable for early characterization of the fluid components from a live hydrocarbon well in the field in real time.