Aromatic-selective size exclusion chromatography (ASSEC): How quantitative is it for petroleum aromatics?

Aromatics in petroleum mixtures draw significant attention from exploration, refining (fuels and petrochemicals) and environmental emissions perspectives. The current trend of shifting petroleum feedstock to chemicals rather than fuels further demands comprehensive aromatics characterization. While qualitative methods are readily available, quantitative approaches are always sought to determine the yield of products and/or conversion of petroleum aromatics. Here, we introduce a method based on aromatic-selective size exclusion chromatography (ASSEC) for the quantification of aromatics in petroleum mixtures. The method is simple to adapt, easy to operate, and relatively fast (minutes). Additionally, it has the ability to provide a trend of aromatics content across the whole boiling range of petroleum samples (naphtha to vacuum gas oil). The data from ASSEC can be used for relevant industrial applications, such as the optimization of high-throughput experiments during con-version of petroleum to petrochemicals via thermal/catalytically cracked reactions. Further optimization of external calibration standards and detection wavelengths will reduce the difference in determined aromatic content between ASSEC and contemporary time-intensive analytical techniques (GC x GC and SARA fractionation).

Automated summary

Aromatics in petroleum mixtures are important in various aspects including exploration, refining, and environmental emissions. This study presents a simple and fast method called aromatic-selective size exclusion chromatography (ASSEC) for quantifying aromatics in petroleum samples. ASSEC can provide a comprehensive analysis of aromatics content across the whole boiling range of petroleum samples and can be used for industrial applications such as optimizing conversions of petroleum to petrochemicals. Further optimization can reduce differences between ASSEC and other analytical techniques for determining aromatic content.