Characterization of North Sea petroleum fractions: Aromatic ring class distribution

Journal Article · · Energy and Fuels; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ef00023a035· OSTI ID:6090341

Ronningsen, H P; Skjevrak, I ^[1]

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1. Production Laboratories, Stavanger (Norway)

The retention behavior of about 50 model hydrocarbons, mainly unsubstituted and alkylated aromatics, on an aminopropylsilane (silica-RNH{sub 2}) liquid chromatographic stationary phase has been investigated. The study included the effect of aromatic structure as well as various substituent effects. The aromatic subfractions of C{sub 10} to C{sub 29} distillate fractions from a biodegraded North Sea crude oil have been further fractionated according to number of aromatic carbon atoms. These ring-class fractions have been quantified by off-line gas chromatography with an internal standard. The reliability of the method has been found satisfactory by comparison with gravimetric quantitation. On-line HPLC/GC and GC/MS group type analyses have been evaluated briefly as alternative quantitation techniques. Monocyclic aromatics were found to be the most abundant group below C{sub 20} while mono- and diaromatics together constituted 80-90% of the aromatic fractions above C{sub 20}. C{sub 14} and C{sub 19} aromatic fractions from a series of North Sea crude oils and condensates were compared with respect to ring-class distribution by using UV detection at 254 nm and response factors. This quantitation technique was also evaluated against gravimetry. It has obvious limitations but was considered useful for the purpose of rough comparison. The differences between the oils were rather small. Finally, the retention behavior of several aromatic hydrocarbons present in crude oil has been examined on two gas chromatographic stationary phases, and the identity of a large number of compounds has been established and related to carbon number.

• OSTI ID: 6090341
• Journal Information: Energy and Fuels; (USA), Journal Name: Energy and Fuels; (USA) Vol. 4:5; ISSN ENFUE; ISSN 0887-0624
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
023000* -- Petroleum-- Properties & Composition
AROMATICS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BIODEGRADATION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
ENERGY SOURCES
FLAME PHOTOMETRY
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
INFORMATION
LIQUID COLUMN CHROMATOGRAPHY
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
MOLECULAR WEIGHT
NORTH SEA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM FRACTIONS
PHOTOMETRY
SAMPLE PREPARATION
SEAS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPECTRA
SPECTROSCOPY
STRUCTURAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
SUPERCRITICAL FLUID CHROMATOGRAPHY
SURFACE WATERS