Fingerprinting of Some Petroleum Fractions Treated with Potassium Aluminium Sulphate

Abstract

This research investigates alteration in the composition of diesel and engine oil due to their treat ment with 35g of Potassium Alu miniu m Sulphate, (KAl(SO4) 2) for seven days at room temperature. Results reveal that after treatment, the Total Petroleu m Hydrocarbon (TPH) o f diesel increased fro m 7688.38mg/ l to 12505.10mg/l whereas that of engine oil increased fro m 4967.48mg/l to 7700.47mg/l. Th is suggests that within these seven days, the salt was able to alter the composition of the samples by breaking down h igher mo lecular weight hydrocarbon fractions within and above the C40 range to smaller mo lecular weight fractions with in the C6 to C40 range. The TPH of the treated diesel oil was similar to that of kerosene after treat ment and that of the treated engine oil was similar to that of the untreated diesel sample. Ratios calculated fro m fingerprints of the samples such as nC 20 /nC 24 , nC 18 /nC 24 , nC 18 /nC 20 , nC 7 /nC 9 , and ∑K/∑D for the treated diesel samp le (0.76, 0.57, 0.75, 0.16, and 0.84) respectively were slightly similar to that of kerosene (0.65, 0.79, 1.20, 0.5, and 1.08), but different fro m that of the untreated sample whereas ratios like nC 10 /nC 11 , nC 11 /nC 12 , nC 14 /nC 16 , nC 11 /nC 20 and nC 24 /nC 28 for the treated diesel sample (0.53, 0.35, 1.02, 0.67 and 4.44) were similar to that of the untreated diesel sample (0.52, 0.36, 0.92, 0.46 and 5.47). None of the ratios for the treated engine o il sample were similar to either those of the untreated engine oil samp le or those of diesel. Therefore, though the treatment of the samples with 35g of the salt caused alterations in the chemical co mposition of the samples, it d id not totally transform them to the fraction obtained before them during distillation process.

Heavy Metals and Total Hydrocarbon Contents of Nypa fruticans Grown along the Shores of Qua Iboe River, Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria

“…Therefore, it implies that the area under investigation has a high degree of THC pollution, which will pose a problem to the exposed ecosystem. According to Udoetok et al, [30], "the introduction of petroleum hydrocarbons to the Niger Delta as a result of the oil spill incident there, may have been responsible for the high level of petroleum hydrocarbons obtained at the site. This is evident by the high level of total hydrocarbon content (THC), significant concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbon fractions within the n-C12 -n-C17 range, especially the n-C13 and n-C17 fractions, the high concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the substantial concentration of the volatile BTEX fractions".…”