Characterization of heavy, biodegraded crude oils by high resolution ESI FT-ICR mass spectrometry

Potential gains in the production (upstream) and processing (downstream) efficiency of heavy crude oil will ultimately depend on compositional information of the crude oil. Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance MS (FT-ICR MS) has emerged as a powerful tool in the analysis of complex polar materials found in crude oils and coal. FT-ICR MS provides high resolution and high mass accuracy that allow for the detailed qualitative compositional analysis for even the most complex hydrocarbon samples, without chromatographic separation. The detailed characterization of a series of six geographically similar heavy crude oils that have undergone varying degrees of biodegradation to document compositional changes that occur in the polar heteroaromatic species as a result of biodegradation was presented. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 228th ACS National Meeting (Philadelphia, PA 8/22-26/2004).