INTEGRATED HYDROCARBON ANALYSIS

摘要

Petroleum or other hydrocarbon samples can be analyzed in parallel by 1) GC-field ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (GC-FI-TOF MS) and 2) two dimensional gas chromatography (2D-GC) equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID). The combined techniques allow for improved quantitative characterization of the compounds within a hydrocarbon sample. The techniques can be combined by correlating the 2D-GC FID data with the GC-FI-TOF MS data based on correlation of compound classes, correlation of retention windows within a compound class, correlation of individual compounds, such as paraffins, or a combination thereof.

主权项

1. A method for characterizing petroleum or other hydrocarbon compositions, comprising:
separating a first plurality of compounds in a first hydrocarbon sample using a first gas chromatography separation; determining a composition and a first weight for each of the separated first plurality of compounds using mass spectrometry, the ions for mass spectrometry being formed by a soft ionization method; separating a second plurality of compounds in a second hydrocarbon sample using a second gas chromatography separation, the second gas chromatography separation including at least a first separation stage and a second separation stage, the second hydrocarbon sample being derived from the same hydrocarbon source as the first hydrocarbon sample; determining a second weight for each of the separated second plurality of compounds; assigning the separated second plurality of compounds to a plurality of compound classes; determining a relative weight for each of the separated second plurality of compound classes based on the second weights of the assigned compounds for each compound class; normalizing the first weight for each of at least a portion of the separated first plurality of compounds, based on the determined relative weights for the plurality of compound classes, to generate a normalized weight for each compound, the normalizing of a first weight for a compound being based on at least a compound class corresponding to a determined composition for the compound; and developing a model of composition for the hydrocarbon source based on at least the normalized weights for the separated first plurality of compounds.