Direct analysis of alkylnaphthalenes in crude oils by two-dimensional capillary gas chromatography

Summary Diaromatics are geochemically significant constituents of crude oils. Their determination is usually achieved by elaborate prefractionation methods, such as medium pressure liquid chromatography and HPLC, prior to capillary gas chromatography. The present contribution describes the quantitative analysis of methylnaphthalenes, ethylnaphthalenes, and dimethylnaphthalenes in selected crude oils by two-dimensional capillary GC. Since the method does not comprise any work-up procedure the determination of geochemical parameters (alkylnaphthalene concentration ratios) is performed on the original, untreated crude oil samples. Accordingly, the analytical results reflect the original composition. The influence by evaporational losses in the laboratory is minimized.     

Analysis of sulfur-containing compounds in crude oils by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with sulfur chemiluminescence detection

This paper reports an analytical method for separating, identifying, and quantifying sulfur-containing compounds in crude oil fraction (IBP-360 degrees C) samples based on comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with a sulfur chemiluminescence detector. Various sulfur-containing compounds and their groups were analyzed with one direct injection. 3620 peaks were detected including 1722 thiols/thioethers/ disulfides/1-ring thiophenes, 953 benzothiophenes, 704 dibenzothiophenes, and 241 benzonaphthothiophenes. The target sulfur compounds and their groups were identified based on the group separation feature and structured retention of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography as well as standard substances. The quantitative analysis of major sulfur-containing compounds and total sulfur was based on the linear response of the sulfur chemiluminescence detector using the internal standard method. The sulfur contents of target sulfur compounds and their groups in 4 crude oil fractions were also determined. The recoveries for standard sulfur-containing compounds were in the range of 90-102%. The quantitative result of total sulfur in the Oman crude oil fraction sample was compared with those from ASTM D 4294 standard method (total S by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry), the relative deviation (RD%) was 4.2% and the precision of the method satisfactory.     

Challenge in the speciation of nitrogen-containing compounds in heavy petroleum fractions by high temperature comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography

Extending the knowledge related to nitrogen-containing compounds presents an important interest for the petroleum industry due to their implication in atmosphere pollution as well as their inhibitive or refractive behaviour towards hydroprocessing. Most of the nitrogenated species are concentrated in heavy petroleum cuts. As no analytical method is resolutive enough for these heavy cuts, particularly regarding nitrogen-containing compounds, a new approach is needed. For this reason, this study focuses on the development of a GC×GC technique, through the hyphenation of a specific NCD detector with a GC×GC system at high temperature. The performances of highly polar thermally stable stationary phases, in particular those composed of promising ionic liquids, were monitored in normal and reversed configurations. Subsequently, after the extraction of neutral or basic compounds by adsorption on an ion-exchange resin, a first quantitative determination was attempted for a straight-run and a direct coal liquefaction vacuum gas oils. This study led to a better understanding of the behaviour of highly aromatic N-compounds by 2D-GC including an ionic liquid phase as well as a deeper N-characterization of heavy petroleum fractions.     

Evaluation of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with flame photometric detection: Potential application for sulfur speciation in shale oil

Flame photometric detection in the sulfur channel has been evaluated for sulfur speciation and quantification in comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography [GC × GC-FPD(S)] for S-compound speciation in shale extracts. Signal non-linearity and potential quenching effects were reportedly major limitations of this detector for analysis of sulfur in complex matrices. However, reliable linear relationships with correlation coefficient >0.99 can be obtained if the sum of the square root of each modulation slice in GC × GC is plotted vs. sulfur concentration. Furthermore, the quenching effects are reduced due to essentially complete separation of S-containing components from the hydrocarbon matrix. An increase of S/N of up to 150 times has been recorded for benzothiophene and dibenzothiophene in GC × GC-FPD when compared to GC-FPD due to the modulation process. As a consequence, 10 times lower detection limits were observed in the former mode. The applicability of the method was demonstrated using shale oil sample extracts. Three sulfur classes were completely separated and the target class (thiophenes) was successfully quantified after the rest of the sample was diverted to the second detector by using a heart-cut strategy. Based on the proposed method, 70% of the sulfur in the shale oil was assigned to the thiophenes, 24% to benzothiophenes, and 5% to dibenzothiophene compounds.     

气流吹扫-注射器微萃取-全二维气相色谱法用于原油组分的表征

建立了气流吹扫-注射器微萃取（GP-MSE）与全二维气相色谱/飞行时间质谱（GC×GC/TOFMS）联用分析原油成分的方法。为了找到适用于原油样品分析的GP-MSE条件,用饱和烃混合标准溶液和15种芳烃的混合标准溶液进行了条件优化,得到的最佳条件如下:取样量5 mg、萃取溶剂正己烷20 μ L、载气流速2 mL/min、加热时间3 min、加热温度300 ℃、冷凝温度-2 ℃。处理后的样品在全二维色谱/飞行时间质谱上进样分析,得到了满意结果。方法的检出限为34~93 μg/L,线性相关系数（R²）>0.99,对50种烃类化合物的回收率在82.0%~107.3%之间,相对标准偏差<10%（n=5）。结果表明GP-MSE-GC×GC/TOFMS法是一种新型绿色、高效、灵敏的分析方法,非常适合原油中挥发性与半挥发性组分的分析。     

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry in the speciation of high molecular weight sulfur heterocycles in vacuum gas oils of different boiling ranges

The analysis of sulfur aromatics in vacuum gas oils (VGO) distilled from an Iranian light crude oil is discussed. The VGOs were fractionated into three boiling ranges, 390–460, 460–520, and 520–550 °C, and were analyzed using liquid chromatographic separation on a Pd(II)-bonded stationary phase followed by identification with electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). It was possible to detect a large number of thiophenes, including a substantial number of isomers, in the three VGO fractions. Separation on the palladium phase and inclusion of sulfur-selective derivatization makes electrospray ionization of these nonpolar compounds possible. An elemental composition can be assigned to a large number of S₁ compounds without ambiguity in the presence of abundant hydrocarbons. With an increase in boiling temperature, an increase in the size of the aromatic system and the number of side chain carbon atoms was observed. In addition, the masses of higher magnitude shifted toward larger aromatic systems with an increase in boiling range. A comparison of FT-ICR MS and comprehensive gas chromatography is also given. This work is dedicated to Prof. B. Krebs on the occasion of his 70th birthday.     

Quantitative analysis of essential oils in perfume using multivariate curve resolution combined with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography

The use of multivariate curve resolution (MCR) to build multivariate quantitative models using data obtained from comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC × GC-FID) is presented and evaluated. The MCR algorithm presents some important features, such as second order advantage and the recovery of the instrumental response for each pure component after optimization by an alternating least squares (ALS) procedure. A model to quantify the essential oil of rosemary was built using a calibration set containing only known concentrations of the essential oil and cereal alcohol as solvent. A calibration curve correlating the concentration of the essential oil of rosemary and the instrumental response obtained from the MCR-ALS algorithm was obtained, and this calibration model was applied to predict the concentration of the oil in complex samples (mixtures of the essential oil, pineapple essence and commercial perfume). The values of the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) and of the root mean square error of the percentage deviation (RMSPD) obtained were 0.4% (v/v) and 7.2%, respectively. Additionally, a second model was built and used to evaluate the accuracy of the method. A model to quantify the essential oil of lemon grass was built and its concentration was predicted in the validation set and real perfume samples. The RMSEP and RMSPD obtained were 0.5% (v/v) and 6.9%, respectively, and the concentration of the essential oil of lemon grass in perfume agreed to the value informed by the manufacturer. The result indicates that the MCR algorithm is adequate to resolve the target chromatogram from the complex sample and to build multivariate models of GC × GC-FID data.     

A multidimensional gas chromatography method for the analysis of hydrogen sulfide in crude oil and crude oil headspace

Two‐dimensional heart‐cutting gas chromatography is used to analyze dissolved hydrogen sulfide in crude samples. Liquid samples are separated first on an HP‐PONA column, and the light sulfur gases are heart‐cut to a GasPro column, where hydrogen sulfide is separated from other light sulfur gases and detected with a sulfur chemiluminescence detector. Heart‐cutting is accomplished with the use of a Deans switch. Backflushing the columns after hydrogen sulfide detection eliminates any problems caused by high‐boiling hydrocarbons in the samples. Dissolved hydrogen sulfide is quantified in 14 crude oil samples, and the results are shown in this work. The method is also applicable to the analysis of headspace hydrogen sulfide over crude oil samples. Gas hydrogen sulfide measurements are compared to liquid hydrogen sulfide measurements for the same sample set. The chromatographic system design is discussed, and chromatograms of representative gas and liquid measurements are shown.     

二维气相色谱法分析天然气水合物区沉积物间隙水中示踪气体的浓度

利用微流路控制技术中心切割装置(Deans Switch)、两根色谱柱(PoraPLOT Q和Molsieve 5A)和3个检测器(脉冲氦离子化检测器、火焰光度检测器、热导检测器),建立了一种二维气相色谱分析系统,实现了海洋中多种示踪气体组分(氢气、甲烷、二氧化碳、硫化氢)的同时分析和精确测定。氢气、甲烷、二氧化碳、硫化氢的含量分别在2～1030、0.6～501、120～10500和0.2～49.1 μmol/mol范围内的校正曲线线性关系良好,检出限分别为0.51、0.17、82和0.08 μmol/mol,10次重复测定含量的相对标准偏差均小于10%。通过对南海天然气水合物区沉积物间隙水顶空气的测定,表明该方法方便、灵敏、可靠,易于实现海上现场测定;与以往采用多种分析方法分别测定示踪气体相比,大大节省了样品量。该方法适用于海洋天然气水合物、海底热液等资源的调查和海洋溶解态气体的研究等。     

Analysis of Alaskan crude oils by glass capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Glass capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry is used to profile Alaskan crude oil for purposes of origin verification. Alaskan oil, sampled at Valdez, Alaska, and transshipped to the U.S. East Coast, is compared with 21 samples of foreign crude oil using GC/MS techniques in which original data is reconstructed at selected parent and fragment ions to generate a series of chromatographic profiles. Comparison of selected profiles and compositional parameters derived from peak ratios allows distinction of Alaskan oil from many foreign crudes and may be applied to the examination of crude mixtures.     

Determining the wax content of crude oils by using differential scanning calorimetry

By the use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), a new method to measure the wax content of crude oil has been developed. In this paper, the wax content of a crude oil is proposed and proved to be the Q (total thermal effect of wax precipitation in sample) ratio of the crude oil and its corresponding wax obtained by using standard acetone method, i.e. Q_oil/Q_wax. For the 14 studied crude oils with the wax content ranging from 1 to 27 wt.%, the wax contents determined by the presented method are in good agreement with those determined by standard acetone method, with an absolute average deviation of only 0.82 wt.%. This method has an advantage over reported DSC methods in which the exact dissolution or precipitation enthalpy of wax is a must. It is also found that the wax contents determined by either of the two methods show good linear relationship with the total thermal effect Q_oil, with the correlation coefficients over 0.96. According to the empirical correlations, the wax content of a crude oil can be easily determined by using the DSC total thermal effect Q_oil. In addition and more significantly, the new method can be applied to improve the accuracy in determining the amount of precipitated wax in a waxy crude oil at different temperatures.     

Classification of highly similar crude oils using data sets from comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and multivariate techniques

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) has proven to be an extremely powerful separation technique for the analysis of complex volatile mixtures. This separation power can be used to discriminate between highly similar samples. In this article we will describe the use of GCxGC for the discrimination of crude oils from different reservoirs within one oil field. These highly complex chromatograms contain about 6000 individual, quantified components. Unfortunately, small differences in most of these 6000 components characterize the difference between these reservoirs. For this reason, multivariate-analysis (MVA) techniques are required for finding chemical profiles describing the differences between the reservoirs. Unfortunately, such methods cannot discern between 'informative variables', or peaks describing differences between samples, and 'uninformative variables', or peaks not describing relevant differences. For this reason, variable selection techniques are required. A selection based on information between duplicate measurements was used. With this information, 292 peaks were used for building a discrimination model. Validation was performed using the ratio of the sum of distances between groups and the sum of distances within groups. This step resulted in the detection of an outlier, which could be traced to a production problem, which could be explained retrospectively.     

Size exclusion chromatography sample pretreatment for GC-AED analysis of metalloporphyrins in crude oils

Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) has been demonstrated to be an effective and reproducible sample pretreatment procedure for removal of heavy oil matrices prior to GC-AED analysis of metalloporphyrins, and for the resolution of volatile metal species into clean and defined fractions. This paper also discusses the results obtained by SEC for determination of the distribution of metallopor-phyrins in crude oils and the correlation between total metal, metal-loporphyrin, and total distillable metal content.     

Qualitative and quantitative study of nitrogen-containing compounds in heavy gas oil using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with nitrogen phosphorus detection

In this work, a GCxGC-nitrogen-phosphorus detection (NPD) methodology was developed to separate and quantitate nitrogen-containing compounds in Brazilian heavy gas oil. First, the NPD performance was improved in order to achieve best GCxGC performance. The geometry of this detector was also evaluated. The use of an extended jet improved significantly the peak shape. The GCxGC separation was studied using both first and second dimension columns with different internal diameters. The use of a thicker film in both dimensions provided better performance. LODs of 0.16-8.49 pg of individual compounds were achieved. Two different extraction techniques of the neutral and basic nitrogen-containing compounds were also evaluated. The method using ion-exchange resins to separate neutral and basic nitrogen-containing compounds was more efficient than the method using modified silica. As an example, the amounts (microg/g) of each class reported were: indole (2.77), alkyl carbazoles ranging from C(0) to C(6+) (1.467), alkyl benzocarbazoles from C(0) to C(4+) (793), alkyl quinolines (31.2) and alkyl benzoquinolines (21.6) were quantitated.     

Quantitative analysis by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography using interval Multi-way Partial Least Squares calibration

A new approach for target quantitative analysis for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC), interval Multi-way Partial Least Square (iNPLS) is presented and evaluated in this paper. In iNPLS, the two-dimensional chromatogram is split in small sections; each of these pieces is treated as an independent new chromatogram. Separated conventional NPLS calibration models for the concentration of the target analyte are built for each of the pieces of the whole chromatogram, and the best model is selected for quantitative analysis. An algorithm for iNPLS running on MatLab platform was written, preliminarily evaluated with using solutions of model compounds with different chemical properties and subsequently applied to quantify some allergens in perfume samples. The results were found to be adequate, and good precision and accuracy was obtained even for poorly resolved peaks.     

原油中芳香硫化合物形态分布的研究

建立了原油中多环芳香硫化合物形态分布的研究方法。采用氯化钯/硅胶配位交换色谱分离原油中的芳香硫化合物,并用气相色谱/质谱分析、气相色谱-硫化学发光检测法结合色谱保留指数,鉴定出原油中的100多个多环芳香硫化物,包括含烷基取代基的苯并噻吩和二苯并噻吩类硫化物。定量分析表明,二苯并噻吩类化合物的含量占芳香硫化合物总量的91%左右。该方法可用于不同来源的原油中芳香硫化合物的形态分布研究。     

A new method to determine reid vapour pressure for stabilized crude oils by gas chromatography

Summary A new rapid method has been developed to determine Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) for stabilized crude oils by gas chromatography. The quantity of light hydrocarbons dissolved in crude oil was measured directly by gas chromatographic analysis, while the RVP value was computed utilizing a new correlation with this quantity at constant temperature. A variety of crude oils were investigated and the results revealed the accuracy of this method.     

Importance of quality control in a gas chromatographic method to characterize crude oils

A quality control scheme has been developed to achieve reproducible capillary GC characterization of crude oils and petroleum condensates. The method uses an internal standard to quantify the amount of non-eluted material in the crude oil sample. Correlation between the gas chromatographic results and actual distillation was 2 %. After repeated use, however, weekly analysis of the same standard crude oil did not give the correct composition. This was a result of discrimination, which worsened with time, as a result of leaks in the septum or the graphite ferrules. More reproducible results were obtained by performing frequent analyses of quality control samples to ensure that the gas chromatographic system was operating properly. The use of quality control charts was a convenient way of ensuring correct operation and identifying the need for corrective action on the gas chromatographic system.     

Kinetic analysis of crude oils by a weighted mean activation energy approach

A weighted mean activation energy method was applied to describe the reactivity and combustibility of crude oils via simultaneous TG/DTG. Thermal experiments were conducted with a non-isothermal method at a heating rate of 10C min^–1 with excess air. Reaction rates increased progressively with increasing temperature. The rate data were fitted to an Arrhenius equation; the plots showed three distinct reaction regions. Weighted mean activation energies (E _wm), of the crude oils were calculated and a correlation was established betweenE _wm, API gravity and peak temperatures during high-temperature oxidation.