| Abstract: | The characterization of heavy petroleum fractions is essential for the design and improvement of cracking plants converting heavy feedstock into valuable “white” products. Conventional simulated distillation methods using packed columns are unsuitable for this purposes, being limited to boiling points up to about 600°C. The method presented is able to cover a boiling points interval ranging from about 150°C up to around 800°C. It employs a short, nonpolar, highly thermostable capillary column routinely operated at temperatures around 430°C. The analytical system is based on a high temperature versions of a fully automatic, capillary dedicated gas chromatograph. The experimental data demonstrate that cold on-column injection is the sole sampling system suitable for such heavy compounds. The conversion of the retention times into boiling points, based on the use of low molecular weight polyethylenes, is extremely reliable, as demonstrated by the excellent retention time reproducibilities. The lower part (up to 550–600°C TBP) of the boiling point distribution curves of heavy petroleum fractions obtained on capillary columns fits well with the corresponding distribution curves based on packed column data. For the petroleum fractions fully eluted from the column the quantitative results obtained either using internal standards or by direct processing of the elution curves are in excellent agreement (less than 0.3 weight% differences). The method has been applied to the determination of the true boiling points corresponding to short path vacuum distillation (DISTACT) cut points over 300°C. |
