Characterization of Acid-Soluble Oxidized Asphaltenes by Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry: Insights on Oxycracking Processes and Asphaltene Structural Features

Autor: Renzo C. Silva, Pedro Pereira-Almao, Thomas B. P. Oldenburg, Steve Larter, Lante Carbognani Ortega, Melisa Brown, Ursula Ehrmann, Farouq Ahmed, Jagoš R. Radović
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Energy & Fuels. 30:171-179
ISSN: 1520-5029
0887-0624
DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5b02215
Popis: The dissolution of organic matter into water via oxidative processes, named oxycracking, has been practiced for a long time for the removal of organic pollutants, in which oxygen induces breakage and functionalization of organic molecules. Recently, oxycracking has been explored as an alternative approach to handling the increased amount of solid residues produced in oil sands upgrading activities that involve carbon rejection in solvent deasphalting units. This study uses an asphaltene-rich feedstock, operationally known as petroleum pitch, isolated from an Athabasca bitumen vacuum residue, which was submitted to oxycracking reactions at 200 and 220 °C. The feed and water-soluble fractions isolated at pH 1, termed acid-soluble oxidized asphaltenes (ASOA), were analyzed by ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry [Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS)] using electrospray and atmospheric pressure photoionization ion sources. FTICR-MS analysis revealed extensive oxidation of a...
Databáze: OpenAIRE