Patent ID: 8294892

Claim:
A method of determining the presence and concentration of a target substance within a liquid material in a pipeline or vessel, said method comprising: accumulating samples of a liquid material directly from the pipeline or vessel; exposing the samples of liquid material to an electrically charged coupon wherein the coupon has an enhanced surface and a precise charge for drawing the target material to the surface of the coupon; illuminating the liquid material on the surface of the coupon with light from a light source to induce vibrational responses of and within the molecules of the liquid material; measuring light scattered by the vibrating molecules on the surface of the coupon to create a signal that represents at least one characteristic aspect of the chemical structure of the molecules and quantificational information of molecules of various chemical structures; and interpreting the signal created by reflected and scattered light to identify the presence and quantity of the target material on the surface of the coupon and therefore determine the concentration of the target material within the liquid material in the pipeline or vessel.