Hydrocarbon Group Type Separation of Gas Oil Resins by High Performance Liquid Chromatography on Hyper-Cross-Linked Polystyrene Stationary Phase

• Published in: Energy & fuels 2015-10, Vol.29 (10), p.6686-6694
• Main Authors: Arboleda, Patricia H, Dettman, Heather D, Lucy, Charles A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aromatic compounds; Chromatography; Crude oil; Gas oil; Polymers; Polystyrene resins; Resins; Separation
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5b01287

An analytical method that provides chromatographic information regarding gas oil resins has been developed. This method uses a high performance liquid chromatographic system without backflushing and a single hyper-cross-linked polystyrene column. The use of the latter was warranted as it retains aromatic model compounds more effectively than a typically used silica-based amino-cyano column. Moreover, there was no need for extra solvent drying techniques because a retention time reproducibility of 2.9% RSD over 6 months was achieved. Using this method, gas oil resins were separated into seven chromatographic regions in 35 min on the hyper-cross-linked polystyrene column using a four-solvent-gradient procedure (hexane, chloroform, tetrahydrofuran, and methanol). On the basis of model compounds, separation was achieved between aromatics, sulfur-containing, and nitrogen-containing compounds. Determining composition has a large effect on the characteristics, conversion, and uses of the petroleum feedstock. As resins comprise a significant component of petroleum feedstockup to 54% of the source materialthe detailed characterization of resins using this method is expected to assist in improving the valorization of petroleum products.