IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF C0-C3 PHENOLS IN SOME AUSTRALIAN CRUDE OILS

An analytical procedure has been developed for the analysis of phenols in crude oil. The procedure involves isolation of the phenolic components of crude oil by extraction with alkaline aqueous methanol, followed by the removal of carboxylic acids using a back extraction step. The phenol isolate was analysed by capillary GC-FID and GC-MS and 19 phenols, of which 15 had not been previously reported to occur in crude oil, have been identified using co-chromatography on three different stationary phases. The phenols were quantified using a dimethyl siloxane column (BP1) and found to occur at concentrations ranging from 29,000 ng/g down to the limit of detection of 20 ng/g (ppb).