Crude oil screening process

摘要

A method for the quantitation of the naphthenic acid content in a hydrocarbon composition, comprising (i) separating naphthenic acid from the hydrocarbon composition; (ii) applying the separated naphthenic acid to a macro reticular ion-exchange resin additionally comprising transition metal ions co-ordinated with an amine or ammonia in which the metal ion amine/ammonia co-ordinated complexes are bound to the surface of the resin; (iii) washing the column; (iv) eluting the naphthenic acid-metal ion complexes from the column; and (v) quantitating the concentration of naphthenic acid-metal ion complexes present in the eluate from the column. The hydrocarbon composition may be crude oil.