2026 Oral Presentations
The following abstracts have been received and accepted for presentation at the 2026 Gulf Coast Conference. Additional submissions will be added to this list as they are received and accepted.
Abstract # 100 - Training Course
10/12/2026 - 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Ivy 2 (Moody Gardens Hotel)
This seminar will present an overview on test method precision, bias, ILS design, and statistical control charts. ASTM repeatability, reproducibility, intermediate precision, and bias will be discussed, along with ASTM D6300 ILS design requirements to establish r, R, and critical success factors. Test method "in-statistical-control" concept will be discussed along with control chart work process and tools per ASTM D6299.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- understand test method precision, bias, and application of Statistical Control Charts for test method performance monitoring
MUST REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE SEPARATELY BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW, This Fee Does Not Include Registration to the Gulf Coast Conference.
Understanding Test Method Precision, Bias, ILS Design, Statistical Quality Control Charts
Abstract # 101 - Training Course
10/12/2026 - 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Vine 2, Moody Gardens Hotel
Renewable Fuels: Science, Standards, and Sustainability
The ASTM Renewable Fuels course is an introduction to renewable fuels for both ground and aviation use. The course covers first-generation renewable fuels ethanol and biodiesel, now in wide use across the globe. Second-generation renewable fuels are also discussed, comparing their advantages and challenges for implementation. The concepts of life cycle analysis used to qualify the benefits in carbon emissions reductions are presented. Several process pathways for second-generation renewable fuels are discussed. The process pathways for Synthetic Aviation Turbine Fuel are presented and discussed. Hydrogen and e-fuels are also reviewed. For more detailed technical information on gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation, and marine fuels, ASTM courses are available.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Identify the need for roles, societal impact, and status for renewable fuels.
- Describe the purpose of ASTM International, Committee D02, and related organizations in standards development.
- Explain how carbon reduction in renewable fuels is evaluated through life cycle analysis.
- Recall how ASTM and similar standards are applied to standardize the properties of renewable fuels and understand how authorities use ASTM standards to regulate renewable fuels.
- Define first-generation renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel and recognize key differences between first- and second-generation renewable fuels.
- Identify the main requirements of the US Renewable Fuel Standard and other emissions-related fuel regulations.
- Summarize current and emerging efforts within the energy and renewable fuels industries aimed at conservation, emissions reduction, and carbon footprint mitigation.
MUST REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE SEPARATELY BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW, This Fee Does Not Include Registration to the Gulf Coast Conference.
Abstract # 102 - Training Course
10/12/2026 - 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM - Salon H, Moody Gardens Hotel
Transition Training: ISO/IEC 17020:2026 Requirements for Bodies Performing Inspections
- ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB)
ISO/IEC 17020 revised and was published earlier this year. Inspection bodies accredited to the 2012 edition of the standard will be required to transition to the new 2026 requirements over the next three years. This one-day course, instructed by ANAB’s Senior Accreditation Manager Paul Matera, will assist attendees in preparing their quality management system for that transition. Paul Matera represented the U.S. as a committee member and Task Group Chair on the ISO/IEC 17020:2026 working group. Attendees receive a clause-by-clause review of the changes to the new standard, as well as gain an understanding of the main changes and the reasoning behind those changes.
The course includes an End User License Agreement (EULA) copy of the ISO/IEC 17020:2026 standard and a course workbook with a crosswalk between the 2012 and 2026 revisions.
After the course, attendees have the opportunity to take a 2-hour online exam to demonstrate competency on the concepts of the standard and updated requirements. Upon passing the exam, attendees will receive a Certificate of Completion.
COST PER PERSON: $750.00 (includes standard)
MUST REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE SEPARATELY BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW, This Fee Does Not Include Registration to the Gulf Coast Conference.
Abstract # 103 - Seminar
10/14/2026 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM - Exhibit Hall A4
*KEYNOTE SPEAKER* Rapid Synthesis with Ultrahigh Temperatures or Electric Fields
First disclosed will be the conversion of petroleum products into high-value materials within seconds, without solvents, at energy costs of less than $100 per tonne. This process can reach temperatures of 3000 degrees Centigrade in milliseconds, affording graphene, battery-grade graphite, nanotubes, silicon carbide, carbyne, and more. This has been commercialized through the startup Universal Matter Inc., which produces 1 tonne per day of graphene and is scaling to 4 tonnes per day, while further launching two additional startups. Second, disclosed will be rapid routes, with >98% selectivity, to ammonia, hydrogen (H2), or hydrogen cyanide, starting from water, air, and sometimes carbon, at temperatures of 4000-8000 degrees Centigrade, and at ultralow overall energies. Finally, a method to synthesize high-value organic compounds using high electric fields in 2 minutes, with 1800x lower energy than conventional heating or catalytic techniques, will be presented.
Abstract # 106 - Training Course
10/15/2026 - 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM - Vine 2, Moody Gardens Hotel
Utilizing Evolving Industry Standards to Improve Business Operations
- ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB)
ISO standards establish requirements for accreditation, certification, and self-declaration of conformity. Embedded within these requirements are powerful tools that organizations can use not only to achieve compliance, but also to drive continuous improvement and enhance overall performance. These tools include risk-based thinking, cause analysis and corrective action, internal audits, and management review.
This course is designed to help participants evaluate standard requirements from a fresh perspective—understanding why the requirements exist, how they are interconnected, and how to effectively leverage them to build a stronger, more resilient management system. By doing so, organizations can realize greater operational effectiveness and long-term value.
Rather than serving as an introduction to any single standard or focusing on a specific industry, this course is broadly applicable across sectors. It is ideal for quality managers, technicians, engineers, and other professionals who contribute to organizational performance and are looking to foster a culture of quality.
The content is especially relevant for personnel working in the petroleum industry, calibration and testing laboratories, manufacturing environments, and other technical fields, as well as anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of standard implementation and its practical benefits within business operations.
COST PER PERSON: $695.00
MUST REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE SEPARATELY BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW, This Fee Does Not Include Registration to the Gulf Coast Conference.
https://anab.ansi.org/training/utilizing-evolving-industry-standards-to-improve-business-operations/
Abstract # 107 - Training Course
10/15/2026 - 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Ivy 2 (Moody Gardens Hotel)
Analytical Training - Bridging the Gap Between Chemists and Process Engineers
This course will include a complete tour of the analytical laboratory for the petroleum industry. We will discuss many analytical instruments and their basic function and technology. This will include GCs, ICP, ICP-MS, XRD, XRF, elemental analyzers, titrators and more. This course will also bridge the gap that some chemist experience while discussing the engineer needs including reading P&ID, block flow diagram, online analyzers, sampling, and sampling system. And finally, we will discuss the different standardized methodologies including ASTM, UOP, IFP, GPA methods and dive into QA/QC including repeatability and reproducibility. The course will be heavily supported by real world examples and as an open forum for questions and answers throughout the day.
COST PER PERSON: $150.00
MUST REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE SEPARATELY: Choose "Thursday Class" on Registration page. This Fee Does Not Include Registration to the Gulf Coast Conference.
Abstract # 112 - Paper
Simulated Distillation of Oxygenated Fractions by Vacuum Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (VTGA
Accurate boiling point distributions are critical for refinery stream evaluation, unit design, and cut point control. Conventional GC-based simulated distillation methods struggle with oxygenate-rich streams due to incomplete elution and compound-dependent response factors. Vacuum thermal gravimetric analysis, or VTGA, offers an alternative approach for complex refinery matrices by deriving boiling distributions from mass loss under vacuum. VTGA is insensitive to compound count and chemical functionality. Results show pre-cracking VTGA data correlate well with ASTM D1160 distillation for vacuum gas oil materials and extend boiling range coverage to 1300 degrees Fahrenheit AEBP. VTGA offers a practical, complementary simulated distillation testing tool.
Abstract # 113 - Workshop
10/13/2026 - 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM - Floral Hall A1
PRELIMINARY ABSTRACT.
Workshop includes a few presentations on ICP-OES and ICP-MS techniques that beneficial to the end uers, followed by a brief Q&A session. Attendees are encouraged to bring up their own unique problems for open discussion.
TO BE FINALIZED
Abstract # 114 - Paper
StayClean™ QSight LC-MS/MS for High Throughput Analysis of Fluorinated Benzoic Acid Tracers in Water
Fluorinated benzoic acids (FBAs), including several subgroups, are a distinct category of artificial, stable, non-radioactive tracers that are commonly used to investigate flow dynamics in geothermal, hydrothermal and oil well applications. In an oil field, FBAs are known to partition within the aqueous phase and can be monitored quantitatively between the injector and producer wells to enable quick operational decision making, with the goal of optimizing oil recovery. In this work, we developed a high throughput LC-MS/MS method for analysis of FBA tracers in water. 14 FBAs were evaluated for their relative sensitivity on column. LC separation was optimized to separate sample matrix from target analytes. Field samples from a petroleum company were analyzed and 3-FBA was detected to be approximately 10 times higher than background level in the control samples. QSight LC-MS/MS is equipped with StayClean™ Technology. The instrument has self-cleaning ability. StayClean™ hardware design allows direct injection of field water samples without cleanup, instrument cleaning and maintenance. A robustness test dataset with continuing injection of 21,700 dirty sample extracts including avocado, salmon, spice, tomato mix and dog/cat food will be presented.
Abstract # 115 - Paper
Optimizing NIR and Raman Performance
Optical spectroscopy is the go-to technology to manage myriad applications both in the laboratory and in a process stream. It measures chemistry and physical properties essentially in real time and is non-destructive, quantitative, and requires less handling. The price to pay is that the spectrometer will require calibration to translate the spectral fingerprint into an analytical result. This distills down to three tasks.
· One is to create an optimized method for processing the data, typically setting appropriate preprocessing techniques and possibly selecting the optimal wavelengths. Even choice of algorithm is up for grabs in this method development step.
· Then the issue of maintaining the calibration as process conditions or input material change becomes the effort. Here, key is the selection of optimal rank (e.g., number of factors in a PLS model) along with choosing the best spectra to use in the calibration.
· Finally, a system to evaluate model quality (as in ASTM D6122) is critical to provide an objective evaluation of the current model’s quality.
All these tasks can be done autonomously, and the result is a vast simplification of the calibration process that is independent of technician training and consumes a negligeable amount of time to ensure success.
Abstract # 116 - Paper
Assuring Repeatability and Reliability in Chromatographic Analysis
Whether in the laboratory or found in a process setting, chromatography is a vital product quality control agent in the hydrocarbon processing industry. It is inexpensive, extremely adaptable to most applications, and allows us to characterize mixtures to confirm composition. There are algorithmic processing approaches that can perform signal processing and automate the interpretation of the data. They rely on the fact that a chromatogram is a fingerprint and can be processed in a manner identical to how we handle optical spectroscopy and will assess the data quality objectively. These approaches work with any instrument, vastly simplify the workflow tied to generating an expert system, and ensure that any legacy system in place is preserved.
Abstract # 117 - Seminar
Practical Maintenance and Troubleshooting in Gas Chromatography
In Gas chromatography 90% of the trouble experienced, is happening in the injection system. In this course we will discuss the purpose and impact of the critical parts (consumables) present in split and splitless injection and how this impact in a maintenance schedule. We will zoom in carrier gas choice and purity, tubing, connections, septa, ferrules, seals, liners, column-coupling, installation and column maintenance.. At the end we will discuss a series of practical examples via troubleshooting exercises.
Abstract # 118 - Paper
Advancements in predicting separations of volatiles in Gas Chromatography Oil and Gas Applications
- CreaVisions
- Restek corporation
For many methods existing/proven methods are on the books. We see slow more use of GCxGC in Petro applications. Many applications you can ind at vendors using their instrumentation and columns. Now there has been in new tool available any body can use from the web. Its called ProEZGC and its basically a GC in your laptop. This program has now also be completed with PLOT columns like Alumina, Molsieve 5Aand Porous polymers. These are the “togo” columns for volatile separations. Now you can enter the list of analytes YOU are interested in and change. Oven program, linear gas velocity, type of carrier gas or using a different column dimension. This means setting up a new method or modifying an existing method you do not need a GC or time to develop new parameters. And… its 100% FREE!
Abstract # 119 - Seminar
Impact of using Hydrogen as carrier gas in GC and GC/MS
In Gas chromatography there is an increasing need to use a different carrier is. Mostly used is helium, but this gas becomes not only very expensive, the supply is also not guaranteed. Alternative gases are Hydrogen and Nitrogen. Using Hydrogen adds other benefits as analysis time can be reduces a factor 2, and you can reduce contamination as you need to inject 50% of the original amount to get the same signal. Important aspect is safety as Hydrogen-air mixtures between 4 and 76 % are combustible. Also using H2 in GC/MS is possible, but there are several areas of attention, like fragmentation, activity, flow, column dimensions, noise, background one need to consider. If you decide to use H2 you will be independent of gas supply as you can invest in a H2 generator, In this course we will discuss the switch from helium to H2 in detail
