Patent ID: 7067811

Claim:
A method for providing rapid on-line analyses of bitumen compositions for determining asphaltenes content thereof or for determining solvent-to-bitumen ratio or density of solvent diluted bitumen utilizing near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in combination with chemometrics which comprises: (a) for each type of analysis to be conducted, providing a database by analyzing a series of samples using standard laboratory analytical procedures, utilizing the results as reference values to establish quantitative calibration models from NIR spectroscopy using chemometric techniques and storing this information in a computer database, (b) providing an NIR spectroscopic system comprising a double-pass, transflectance probe having a long light path, coupled via fiber-optic cables to a stable white light source and a spectrograph, (c) inserting said probe into a chemical composition to be analyzed and beaming to said probe a stable white light of selected wavelength range and recording the spectra obtained on the spectrograph, and (d) correlating the spectra obtained to the reference data stored in the computer to obtain a rapid measurement of the analysis desired.