Chemical Characterization of Humic and Fulvic Acid Analogs Obtained from Wet Air Oxidation (WAO) at Different Severities

Date
2018-04-13
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Abstract
Due to depletion of conventional oil resources and the increasing energy demand, the role of heavy oils is significantly increasing. The heaviest portions of heavy oils are asphaltenes, which create tremendous problems in transportation and upgrading processes. Removal of asphaltenes from heavy oil improves the quality of oil and makes it easier to process. The oil industry is challenged to explore new alternatives that allow converting asphaltenes into valuable products by economical feasible routes. Wet Air Oxidation (WAO) is one proposed alternative, being herein examined together with fundamental aspects on hydrocarbon oxidation for its proper framing. The solubilization of asphaltenes in water has recently received attention due to the ease of mobilization and high level of dispersion. The WAO of asphaltenes rapidly produces both water-soluble and water insoluble oxygen rich species. The intermediate product of asphaltenes oxy-cracking reaction is Water Soluble Asphaltenes (WSA), and the final product is CO2. At low severities WSA had characteristics similar to humic analogs whereas at high severities, products aromaticity increased and lower molecular weight components (fulvic analogs) were formed. Processed asphaltenes were found to have oxygen functionalties like carboxylic acids and their salts, ketones, sulphoxides and sulphones, responsible for their aqueous solubilization. The effect of pH (base) on oxidation of asphaltene was determined using different experimental conditions. It was found that the concentration of chemical base used as acidic corrosion prevention and as catalysts are the most influential parameter for the solubilization of asphaltene, to achieve high conversion at low temperature. The humic/fulvic acids field of knowledge was identified as key for proper understanding of HC oxidation and other feasible industrial applications, like in agriculture.
Description
Keywords
Asphaltenes, oxy-cracking, Wet Air Oxidation
Citation
Ahmed, F. (2018). Chemical Characterization of Humic and Fulvic Acid Analogs Obtained from Wet Air Oxidation (WAO) at Different Severities (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31802