Molecular Characterization of Hydrocarbons in Petroleum by Ultrahigh-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Jikun Liu; Litao Wang; Fei Chen; Wenya Hu; Chenglong Dong; Yinghao Wang; Yehua Han

doi:10.3390/en16114296

Energies (May 2023)

Molecular Characterization of Hydrocarbons in Petroleum by Ultrahigh-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Jikun Liu,
Litao Wang,
Fei Chen,
Wenya Hu,
Chenglong Dong,
Yinghao Wang,
Yehua Han

Affiliations

Jikun Liu: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Litao Wang: PetroChina Petrochemical Research Institute, Beijing 102206, China
Fei Chen: PetroChina Petrochemical Research Institute, Beijing 102206, China
Wenya Hu: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Chenglong Dong: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Yinghao Wang: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Yehua Han: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/en16114296
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 16, no. 11
p. 4296

Abstract

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The progress in ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry (UHRMS) and related technologies has significantly promoted the development of petroleomics. The study of petroleomics has greatly broadened our knowledge of the composition of petroleum at the molecular level, especially heavy fractions that cannot be analyzed by gas chromatography (GC)-based methods. To date, heteroatom-containing (O, N, S, and metal atoms) compounds in petroleum have been studied extensively by UHRMS. Nevertheless, the main components of petroleum, hydrocarbon compounds, have remained out of reach of petroleomics characterization for a long time because they are too difficult to be softly and efficiently ionized for UHRMS analysis. It is undoubtedly the case that petroleum hydrocarbons should not be the missing part of petroleomics characterization since they play important roles not only as feeding pools for various high value-added petroleum products but also as critical biomarkers for geochemistry studies. Here, the most recent breakthroughs in petroleomics characterization of hydrocarbon compounds using UHRMS rather than conventional methods have been reviewed. Innovations of soft ionization methods can transform non-polar hydrocarbon molecules into molecular ions or quasi-molecular ions that are reachable for UHRMS without fragmentation. The development of data processing methods has assisted the decoding of the complicated UHRMS data to visualize the molecular composition and structure of hydrocarbon compounds. These advances make it possible to see the whole picture of petroleum compositions, from light distillation fractions to heavy distillation fractions, and from small volatile molecules to large non-volatile ones. The applications of UHRMS-based methods for petroleomics characterization of hydrocarbon compounds in crude oils and various petroleum samples including fuel oil, slurry, and even asphaltene have made a great contribution to petrochemistry and geochemistry studies, especially in the fields of molecular refining and biomarker discovery.

Published in Energies

ISSN: 1996-1073 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Technology
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies

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