Development of a novel leak-free constant-pressure cylinder for certified reference materials of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures.

Liquid hydrocarbon mixtures such as liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas are becoming integral parts of the world's energy system. Certified reference materials (CRMs) of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures are necessary to allow assessment of the accuracy and traceability of the compositions of such materials. A piston-type constant-pressure cylinder (PCPC) comprising chambers for a pressurizing gas (helium) and liquid (hydrocarbons) separated by a piston can be used to develop accurate and traceable liquid hydrocarbon mixture CRMs. The development of accurate CRMs relies on the maintenance of their composition. However, a PCPC might allow hydrocarbons to leak owing to the imperfect seal of the piston. In this study, a novel leak-free bellows-type constant pressure cylinder (BCPC) is designed and evaluated by comparison with PCPCs. Liquid hydrocarbon mixtures consisting of ethane, propane, propene, isobutane, n-butane, 1-butene, and isopentane were prepared in both types of constant pressure cylinders and then monitored to check leakages between the gas and liquid chambers. Overall, notable leakage occurred from and into both chambers in the PCPCs, whereas no leakage occurred in the BCPCs in the three months after their gravimetric preparation. The BCPCs maintained no leakage even 10 months after their preparation, whereas the PCPCs showed significantly increasing leakage during the same period.