Non-chromatographic method for separation and determination of Fe, Ni and V porphyrins in crude oil.

A method combining ultracentrifugation and cloud point extraction is proposed for the separation and determination of Fe, Ni and V porphyrins in crude oil. An emulsion containing about 200 mg of crude oil, 6% (w v) of Triton X-100™, 1.6% (v v) of chloroform and 0.1 mol L of HCl was prepared. An aliquot (1.5 mL) of this emulsion was ultracentrifuged to separate the crude oil heavy fraction (asphaltene and particulate matter) and inorganic species, organometallic compounds and porphyrins of Fe, Ni and V remained in the supernatant. Another aliquot (1.5 mL) was heated up to 90 °C for 5 min to separate the porphyrins, both heavy and light organics compounds, light organic and particulate matter by cloud point extraction, only the inorganic and ionic organometallic compounds species remained in the aqueous phase. The supernatant and aqueous phase were analysed by simultaneous graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The concentration determined in the supernatant was subtracted from that determined in the aqueous phase, providing the quantification of Fe, Ni and V porphyrin in the crude sample. The accuracy of the proposed method was checked using SARA reference method. The elemental determinations in the fractions obtained using the proposed method and the comparison by SARA showed an absence of Fe in the aromatics and resins fractions. The results showed that about 40% of Ni and 70% of V in the crude oil sample are bounded to porphyrins.