Study of Crude Oil Fouling from Sulfur-Containing Compounds Using High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

With the depletion of conventional resources, heavier and more sulfur-rich crude oils come into the focus of interest. However, the utilization of such feedstocks is extremely undesirable since their high sulfur content causes corrosion fouling, catalyst poisoning, and emissions of toxic pollutants into the atmosphere. As known catalyst poisoners, sulfur-containing compounds are also suspected to play an important role in crude oil fouling, that is, the formation of undesired solid deposits. To overcome these problems, insightful knowledge on the chemical composition of the sulfur-containing compounds on a molecular level and their behavior is necessary. Here, fouling reactions of a gas condensate were simulated in the laboratory under atmospheric and inert conditions, with special focus on sulfur-containing compounds, and the resulting mixtures were analyzed by using sophisticated analytical methods such as ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry and electron microscopy. The results indicate that sulfur-containing compounds decompose at elevated temperatures, partly by a radical-induced mechanism. Furthermore, the resulting intermediates show a limited stability in the presence of oxygen.

Desulfurization of Crude Oil by Laboratory Developed Multipumping Flow Injection Analysis System with Optimization by Response Surface Methodology

“…The eff ect of mixing coil length and temperature on the desulfurization process at a fi xed fl ow rate and time is shown in Figure 3d. It can be observed that the desulfurization process changed slightly as the temperature was changed from 30 to 60 °C [ Kondyli et al, 2021]. It was also observed that the desulfurization process increased when the coil length was increased up to 200 cm.…”

Virtual Special Issue of Recent Advances in Analysis of Fuels and Products by Advanced Mass Spectrometry

“…The molecular level analysis of heteroatom classes in the treated asphaltenes is conducted using FT-ICR MS, and it is concluded that the hydrodeheteroatom reactivity of all of the species in asphaltenes decreases in the order of hydrodesulfurization > hydrodemetallization > hydrodenitrogenation. Kondyli et al 7 provide a molecular level understanding for the fouling of sulfur-containing compounds. Analysis of fouling reaction products using Orbitrap Elite mass spectrometry and electron microscopy shows that a radical-induced mechanism plays a role for the decomposition of sulfur-containing compounds at an elevated temperature.…”

Experience in Processing Alternative Crude Oils to Replace Design Oil in the Refinery

“…To improve profitability, refineries are trying to process blends resembling in their properties the design crude, which contain one or more cheaper crudes (opportunity crudes) [11]. The processing of petroleum mixtures can be accompanied by operational problems related to accelerated fouling [12][13][14], corrosion [15][16][17][18][19][20], equipment failure [21], catalyst deactivation [22][23][24], etc. Thus, the assumption that a refinery can refine economically favourable, environmentally friendly, and reliable petroleum crude blends whose characteristics are not too far away from the designed crude may be misleading [25].…”