Patent ID: 9014991
Filing Date: 2015-04-21
Classification: C11B,G01N,G16Z

Abstract:
1. A method of characterizing water content of a hydrophobic fluid sample, comprising: i) providing an aprotic solvent; ii) mixing the solvent of i) with water to produce a number of solvent-water mixtures with predetermined water concentrations; iii) performing infrared spectroscopic testing of the number of solvent-water mixtures to derive spectrum data for the number of solvent-water mixtures; iv) processing the spectrum data for the number of solvent-water mixtures to solve for a calibration equation that relates a spectral property measurable at a predetermined wavelength to unit moisture concentration, wherein the predefined wavelength is in the range between 1615cm v) preparing a mixture by adding the aprotic solvent of i) with at least a portion of the hydrophobic fluid sample whereby the aprotic solvent reacts with the sample to extract water from the sample of the mixture; vi) performing infrared spectroscopic testing of the mixture of v) to derive spectrum data for the mixture; vii) processing the spectrum data for the mixture as generated in vi) to measure the spectral property of the calibration equation of iv); viii) using the measure of the spectral property of vii) as input to the calibration equation derived in iv) in order to output a measure of unit moisture concentration for the mixture of v); and ix) deriving a measure of moisture content of the hydrophobic fluid sample based upon the unit moisture concentration for the mixture as derived in viii).