ASTM D4057-95 Standard Practice for Manual Sampling of Petroleum and Petroleum Products

The standard "ASTM D4057-95 Standard Practice for Manual Sampling of Petroleum and Petroleum Products" published by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) describes the procedures for manually collecting representative samples of petroleum products in liquid, semi-liquid or solid forms with a vapor pressure below 101 kPa at ambient conditions. If the sampling is for the precise determination of volatile matter, the standard "ASTM D5842-17 Standard Practice for Sampling and Handling of Fuels for Measurement of Volatility" is used in conjunction with this practice. The standard "ASTM D5854-19 Standard Practice for Mixing and Handling Liquid Samples of Petroleum and Petroleum Products" is followed for mixing and processing the samples.

This application does not cover sampling of electrical insulating oils and hydraulic fluids. A summary of manual sampling procedures and practices is provided in a table provided in the standard. The procedures described in this method can also be applied to sampling of most non-corrosive liquid industrial chemicals, provided that all safety precautions specific to these chemicals are strictly observed.

The sampling procedure for liquefied petroleum gases is described in the standard “ASTM D1265-22 Standard Practice for Sampling Liquefied Petroleum (LP) Gases, Manual Method”. The sampling procedure for liquid power hydraulic fluids is discussed in the ANSI B93.19 and ANSI B93.44 standards. The sampling procedure for insulating oils is described in the ASTM D923-07 standard and the sampling procedure for natural gas is described in the ASTM D1145-80 standard.

For the purposes of the ASTM D4057-95 standard, the following definitions apply:

• An all-level sample is one obtained by immersing a stoppered beaker or bottle as close as possible to the draw level, then opening the sampler and raising it so that it is about three-quarters full as it exits the liquid.
• A punch sample is a sample of material contained in a barrel, box, bag or cake obtained from shavings created by punching holes into the material with a ship's auger.
• A bottom sample is a point sample taken from the lowest point of a tank, vessel or line. In practice, the term bottom sample has several meanings. When using this term, it is recommended that the exact sampling location be specified.
• A bottom water sample is a spot sample of free water taken from the bottom of oil in a ship or barge compartment or in a storage tank.
• A clean-up sample is a spot sample taken with the inlet opening of the sampling device 10 cm below the bottom of the tank outlet. This term is normally associated with small tanks and is often referred to as rental tanks.
• A composite sample is a mixture of point samples mixed in proportion to the volumes of the material from which the point samples were obtained.
• A core sample is a sample of uniform cross-sectional area taken from a tank at a specified height.

This application provides procedures for manually sampling petroleum and petroleum products in liquid, semi-liquid or solid form from tanks, pipelines, drums, barrels, cans, tubes, bags, vats and open discharge streams. It covers in detail the various factors that must be considered in obtaining a representative sample. These considerations include the analytical tests to be performed on the sample, the types of sample containers to be used and the special instructions required for the particular materials to be sampled.

Representative samples of petroleum and petroleum products are needed to determine chemical and physical properties used in determining standard volumes, prices, and compliance with commercial and regulatory requirements.

The aim of manual sampling is to obtain from a selected area within a container a small portion (point sample) representative of the material in the area or, in the case of continuous or whole level samples, a sample whose composition is representative of the total material in the container. A number of point samples can be combined to form a representative sample.

In all circumstances covered by this application, hand sampling may be undertaken provided that appropriate sampling procedures are followed. In many liquid manual sampling applications, the material to be sampled contains a heavy component (such as free water) that tends to separate from the main component. In these cases, manual sampling is appropriate under the following conditions.

• Sufficient time must have elapsed for the heavy component to separate and settle sufficiently.
• When taking representative samples it should be possible to measure the level of the precipitated component so that it remains well above this level unless all or part of the heavy component is included in the portion of the tank contents to be identified.
• When one or more of these conditions are not met, sampling is recommended and is performed through an automatic sampling system. In this case, ASTM D4177-22 Standard Practice for Automatic Sampling of Petroleum and Petroleum Products is followed.

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