EFFECT OF PRECIPITATION TEMPERATURE ON THE COMPOSITION OF N-HEPTANE ASPHALTENES Part 2

ABSTRACT

Petroleum asphaltenes precipitated by n-heptane at temperatures between ambient and 80^°C from two crude oils have been characterized regarding hydrocarbon structures using ¹H and ¹³C nmr, and fluorescence spectroscopy. This indicates a very complex and apparently very small change in structural features except for a molecular weight increase as more material stays in solution at elevated temperature. Aromaticity increase and apparently alkyl chains diminish. The latter trend is however affected by the structural equation used. According to the fluorescence spectroscopy the content of large and complex chromophores increases but a significant effect of the presence of porphyrins on the spectra is also observed. The data is analyzed in combination with previous characterizations of the same asphaltenes presented in the first part of this work (Andersen, 1994). This indicates that as smaller molecules are extracted at elevated temperature the precipitated asphaltenes tend to associate more. This implys that these small molecules block association sites which therefore become available for further association at elevated temperature. For Boscan part of the smaller easy to extract porphyrins may have this behavior.