Fractionation and Characterization of a Petroleum Residue by Molecular Distillation Process

Abstract

In this work, an atmospheric petroleum residue was fractionated using a falling film molecular distillation pilot plant with molecular distillation temperatures ranging from 190 to 320 °C. The process produced four distillate cuts and four residues that were characterized in order to evaluate the efficiency of the technique. The results showed a gain of 11.7% in distillate yield in the highest molecular distillation temperature studied. Physicochemical characterization of the fractions demonstrated that complex compounds were separated of the distillate cuts and were concentrated in the residues which have compounds with features of resins and asphaltenes. Furthermore, data from molecular distillation experiments were used to extend the true boiling point curve of the crude oil up to 662 °C with continuity and good agreement with the ASTM curves.

Pushing the analytical limits: new insights into complex mixtures using mass spectra segments of constant ultrahigh resolving power

“…In addition, heavy or polar compounds can be irreversibly adsorbed on LC or GC columns, leading to deterioration of the chromatographic performance and to incomplete elution of the analytes 65,66. For such samples, separation by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) (by solubility) or by molecular distillation (by boiling point) is viable 67,68. The analysis of fractions of vacuum residues by SFE FT-ICR MS has been attempted previously,68,69 but compositional analysis was not achieved due to the low abundance of the mass spectra obtained for the end-cut 69.…”

Prototype of an Interface for Hyphenating Distillation with Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry

“…It is used on an industrial scale for fractionation of petroleum (in re neries) as well as in the laboratory-scale sample preparation (e.g., before chemical analysis of complex samples). Beside simple distillation, several customized variants of this technique (including fractional distillation, 7) vacuum distillation, 8,9) molecular distillation, 10) and simulated distillation 11,12) ) are in common use. For example, fractional distillation takes advantage of several vapor condensation steps taking place in one apparatus, providing enhanced separation of volatile components because of the high number of theoretical plates.…”