A new experimental method for a fast and reliable quantification of saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes in crude oils

The complexity of the crude oil makes its compositional characterization a very challenging task. As a conventional way to characterize crude oil, SARA fractionation is based on the differences between the solubility and polarity of the four fractions: Saturates, Aromatics, Resins, and Asphaltenes. In this study, we present an improved method for SARA analysis: clay/alumina chromatography method. This method is three to four times faster compared to ASTM D2007 method and requires less solvent. The proposed system is practical for industrial application since the equipment is fairly inexpensive and could be easily assembled in any laboratory.