Lecture 2 Flashcards
What is petroleum?
A mixture of 100s of predominantly hydrocarbon compounds and small amounts (2%) of other elements like Nitrogen, Sulfur, and Oxygen.
What are the major chemical components of petroleum?
What are the minor chemical components of petroleum?
Cycloalkanes, alkanes, aromatics
Alkenes, Nitrogen/ Sulfur/ Oxygen compounds, Metals like nickel and vanadium.
Name three measures to classify crude oil.
API gravity, sulfur content, and pour point
What does API gravity measure?
Would an API gravity of 35 be considered a light, medium, heavy or extra heavy oil? What about an API of 15?
Is an API of 8 less or more dense than water?
It is a measure of a petroleum liquid’s density in comparison to water.
35 would be considered a light oil. 15 would be a heavy oil.
More dense, at 10 it is equal to water.
Would an oil with 0.8% Sulfur be considered a sweet or sour oil?
Sour, sweet oils have a sulfur content less than 0.5%
Define “pour point”
What does pour point indicate?
The lowest temperature at which oil will still pour before solidifying.
It indicates the amount of wax
How many liters are in a Barrel of oil?
159 L
How is crude oil composition determined?
Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometer (GC - MS)
In a gas chromatogram, do lighter crude oils have more peaks or less? What does a peak represent?
Each peak represents a different compound. Lighter crude oils have less peaks because they have not had enough time to degrade their smaller hydrocarbons.
What are the 3 main classes of hydrocarbons in crude oil in order from most to least abundant?
1) Cycloalkanes/ Naphthenes/ Cycloparaffins
> Can fuse together to form multi-ring structures
2) Alkanes/ Paraffins/ Saturates
> C1 - C4 = gases
> C5 - C17 = liquids
> C18 = solids
3) Aromatics/ Arenes
> Monoaromatic in lighter fuels
> Polycyclic aromatics in heavy oils
Are alkenes major components of crude oil?
No, Alkenes/ olefins are minor components of crude oil because although they are the most common hydrocarbon in organic matter, they are easily reduced to alkanes in the presence of H2. They are produced during refining and are a major feed stock in synthetic chemistry.
What is the most undesirable element found in non-hydrocarbons/ heterocycles, between Nitrogen, Sulfur and Oxygen?
Sulfur compounds are least desirable as it causes souring in the ground and its combustion generates sulfur dioxide, a precursor to acid rain.
What is asphaltene?
a minor component of crude oil, it is a heavy mass of organic compounds. It can be defined as compounds which are soluble in toluene but insoluble in heptane or pentane.
