Rohm and Haas Company

Morton International, Inc.

Michael J Denci

Michael P Hinton

Peter J Heffron

Haresh A Doshi

Susan I Steuer

Brian A Foley

Theodore D Pauls

This invention provides a method for invisibly tagging, for subsequent identification purposes, various liquid petroleum hydrocarbons, such as crude oil, diesel fuel, heating oil, kerosene, lubricating oils, waxes, jet fuel, and in particular gasoline, remarkably using visible dyes by incorporating therein one or more visible dyes at minute levels such that they cannot be visually detected by the human eye. Visible dyes which have high solubility in petroleum hydrocarbons and maximum absorption in the 550-700 nm visible wavelength range are used to impart such invisible markings. The visible dyes, although employed at non-visible levels, are still capable of detection in a relatively quick and simple manner which requires minimal instrumentation, creates no waste products for disposal, and gives true quantitative results of dye concentrations in the field. This invention, therefore, further provides a method for so identifying the tagged petroleum hydrocarbons by exposing the tagged hydrocarbon to visible light having wavelengths in the portion of the spectrum utilized and detecting and quantifying the presence of the dyes in the tagged product from their characteristic absorption with available absorption detection equipment sensitive in this spectral region. This invention also provides visible dye compositions particularly appropriate for said invisible tagging.

Method for invisibly tagging petroleum products using visible dyes

A polyol ester or poly-alkylene glycol lubricant is tagged by adding to the lubricant a chemical marker which is stable over the temperature cycling range of a refrigerant. In testing for the presence of the marker, a sample of a lubricant is obtained, and the sample is diluted in a sufficient volume of an organic solvent such that subsequent admixture with an aqueous solution will not result in emulsification. The diluted sample is extracted with an aqueous solution appropriate for the marker. Simultaneous with or subsequent to extraction, a chromophoric reaction of the marker is induced, whereby a readily identifiable color is observable.

Method of tagging and subsequently indentifying refrigerant lubricants

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St. Charles, IL, United States of America

Michael J Denci