On the nature and origin of acidic species in petroleum. 1. Detailed acid type distribution in a California crude oil

Acidity in crude oils has long been a problem for refining. Knowledge of the detailed chemical composition of the acids responsible for corrosion can facilitate identification of problem crude oils and potentially lead to improved processing options for corrosive oils. A highly aerobically biodegraded crude from the San Joaquin Valley, which has a long history of causing corrosion problems during refining was the subject of this study. The oil was first extracted with base, then acidified and extracted with petroleum ether. A portion of the resulting acid fraction was methylated. The unmethylated extract was analyzed by FTIR, NMR, and the methylated sample was analyzed by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). Over 96% of the ions observed in HRMS have been assigned reliable formulas. Considerably greater functionality is seen in this sample than would be presumed from the "naphthenic acid" title typically assigned to these species. Although over 60% of the compounds contained two or more oxygens, compounds containing only oxygen heteroatoms accounted for less than 10% of the acidic compounds identified. Approximately one-half of the species contained nitrogen and about one-fourth contained sulfur. It is believed that microbial degradation is a major source of these acidic components. It was also observed that acid species with higher degrees of heteroatom substitution generally also had a higher degree of saturation than those species having less heteroatoms, possibly due to impeded migration of highly substituted, less-saturated species.