APPLICATION OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY COUPLED WITH INDUCTIVELY COUPLED MASS SPECTROMETRY (HTGC-ICP-MS) FOR METAL DISTRIBUTION IN CRUDE OIL CUTS.

摘要

Standard fossil fuels and crude oils are complex mixtures of hydrocarbons, related compounds, heteroatoms as well as trace metals. The hundreds of individual compounds constituting petroleum and coal-based materials vary in molecular structure and size, polarity, functionality or chemical group. For a crude oils characterization in details, many chromatographic techniques have been employed, to access information in term of individual components, chemical groups, molecular size, and particular element among others. Simulated distillation (Simdist) is one of the most practiced technique particularly used in refining industry due it ability to provide fast information related to the yield distribution (boiling point vs. amount) for crude feedstocks, intermediates, and products. From Simdist, it can be access the carbon distribution and the hydrocarbon fingerprint of each crude oil as well as sulfur and nitrogen distributions that would provide relevant information about the sample1. Additionally, nickel and vanadium as porphyrins type of compounds, have been analyzed in crude oils and derivatives by GC at temperatures. The possibility of combining the power of high-temperature gas chromatography such as Simdist with a multielement detection technique capability of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), would provide the yield distribution of these elements present in the crude fractions as a function of boiling point. In the case of nickel and vanadium, along with other elements of interests, it would have the first impact on refining applications due the information would help to optimize catalyst lifetime, process conditions and product quality. Previously, we reported an initial assessment of nickel and vanadium presence in crude oil cuts (900-1100 F) by using high-temperature GC-ICP-MS. In this article, we are providing further information of the application of this techniques determination of Nickel and Vanadium and an initial speciation of vanadium, in crude oil fractions with a boiling point between 800-1250 F. Discussion of the significant finding after analyzing such fractions using this technique is presented.