Patent ID: 6943358

Claim:
A method for quantifying the hydrocarbon concentration content of aqueous media, comprising the steps of: generating a coherent ultraviolet light signal that stimulates fluorescent emissions when said coherent ultraviolet light signal irradiates any hydrocarbons present in an aqueous sample in a sample cell, where said coherent ultraviolet light signal is transformed into scattered light signals when said coherent ultraviolet light irradiates hydrocarbons in said aqueous sample; generating a first electrical signal that represents spectral components of said fluorescent emissions in response to detecting said fluorescent emissions that are emitted from said sample cell, and for generating a second electrical signal in response to detecting scattered light signals emitted from said tube, where said second electrical signal represents the intensities and scatter angles of said scattered light signals; and determining a particle size distribution of said hydrocarbons from said second electrical signal and the hydrocarbon concentration content of said aqueous sample from said first electrical signal and said particle size distribution.