Determination of the asphaltene and carboxylic acid content of a heavy oil using a microfluidic device.

Heavy oil utilisation is set to increase over the coming decades as reserves of conventional oil decline. Heavy oil differs from conventional oil in containing relatively large quantities of asphaltene and carboxylic acids. The proportions of these compounds greatly influence how oil behaves during production and its utilisation as a fuel or feedstock. We report the development of a microfluidic technique, based on a H-cell, that can extract the carboxylic acid components of an oil and assess its asphaltene content. Ultimately this technology could yield a field-deployable device capable of performing measurements that facilitate improved resource management at the point of resource-extraction.

[1]  D. Jones,et al.  Anaerobic hydrocarbon biodegradation in deep subsurface oil reservoirs , 2004, Nature.

[2]  Stephen Killops,et al.  An introduction to organic geochemistry , 1993 .

[3]  O. Mullins,et al.  Asphaltene Molecular Size and Weight by Time-Resolved Fluorescence Depolarization , 2007 .

[4]  S A Bowden,et al.  The liquid-liquid diffusive extraction of hydrocarbons from a North Sea oil using a microfluidic format. , 2006, Lab on a chip.

[5]  A. V. Duin,et al.  Formation of carboxylic acids during aerobic biodegradation of crude oil and evidence of microbial oxidation of hopanes , 2002 .

[6]  Ian M. Head,et al.  Biological activity in the deep subsurface and the origin of heavy oil , 2003, Nature.

[7]  J. Speight.  The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum , 1980 .

[8]  J. Watson,et al.  Determination of naphthenic acids in crude oils using nonaqueous ion exchange solid-phase extraction. , 2001, Analytical chemistry.

[9]  S. Larter,et al.  The effect of biodegradation and water washing on the occurrence of alkylphenols in crude oils , 2001 .

[10]  Stephen R Quake,et al.  Solvent resistant microfluidic DNA synthesizer. , 2007, Lab on a chip.

[11]  J. Zumberge,et al.  The occurrence of petroleum in sedimentary rocks of the meteor impact crater at Lake Siljan, Sweden , 1986 .

[12]  Paul Yager,et al.  Interfacial instabilities affect microfluidic extraction of small molecules from non-Newtonian fluids. , 2007, Lab on a chip.

[13]  Kenneth E. Peters,et al.  Effects of source, thermal maturity, and biodegradation on the distribution and isomerization of homohopanes in petroleum , 1991 .

[14]  R. Jaffé,et al.  Application of carboxylic acid biomarkers as indicators of biodegradation and migration of crude oils from the Maracaibo Basin, Western Venezuela , 1993 .

[15]  Nigel Beard,et al.  Dealing with real samples: sample pre-treatment in microfluidic systems. , 2003, Lab on a chip.

[16]  R. Kandiyoti,et al.  Characterization of Heavy Hydrocarbons by Chromatographic and Mass Spectrometric Methods: An Overview , 2007 .

[17]  J. Connan.  Biodegradation of Crude Oils in Reservoirs , 1984 .

[18]  R. L. Piehl.  Naphthenic acid corrosion in crude distillation units , 1988 .

[19]  J. Speight,et al.  Relation of petroleum resins to asphaltenes , 1975 .

[20]  A. Lee,et al.  Rapid microfabrication of solvent-resistant biocompatible microfluidic devices. , 2008, Lab on a chip.

[21]  M. Tokeshi,et al.  Integration of a microextraction system on a glass chip: ion-pair solvent extraction of Fe(II) with 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthrolinedisulfonic acid and tri-n-octylmethylammonium chloride , 2000, Analytical chemistry.

[22]  M. Teschner,et al.  Biodegradation of crude oils. , 1989, Schriftenreihe des Vereins fur Wasser-, Boden- und Lufthygiene.

[23]  Igor Plazl,et al.  Steroid extraction in a microchannel system--mathematical modelling and experiments. , 2007, Lab on a chip.

[24]  Will Meredith,et al.  Influence of biodegradation on crude oil acidity and carboxylic acid composition , 2000 .