ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF LIGHT OIL ALKANES IN SHALE OIL BY VAPOR-PHASE REACTION GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY

The application of on-line reactors to aid in the discrimination between various classes of hydrocarbons in shale oil and the volatile gases evolved in laboratory pyrolysis of oil shale is described. A pre-column reactor of sulfuric acid supported on diatomite serves to subtract alkenes, aromatics, and the various oxygen-, nitrogen-, and sulfur-containing species within the complex shale oil gas chromatographic profile. The unsubtracted alkanes serve to provide informative fingerprint comparisons between oils produced by various retorting processes and laboratory evolved samples. The procedures are particularly effective when interfaced with capillary column gas chromatography. Further differentiation among alkanes may be gained by the use of on-line molecular sieve pre-columns which remove n-alkanes, leaving branched chain and cyclic species for comparison. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.