Methods of analyzing crude oil

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9733228-B2
Application number	US-201414426879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2014
Priority date	Jan 31, 2013
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

The invention generally relates to methods of analyzing crude oil. In certain embodiments, methods of the invention involve obtaining a crude oil sample, and subjecting the crude oil sample to mass spectrometry analysis. In certain embodiments, the method is performed without any sample pre-purification steps.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for analyzing a crude oil sample, the method comprising:
obtaining a crude oil sample comprising a non-naturally occurring substance within the crude oil sample;
introducing the crude oil sample to a porous paper substrate;
applying solvent and voltage to the crude oil sample on the substrate to generate ions of the non-naturally occurring substance directly and only from the crude oil sample, wherein the applying step is conducted without an external heat source; and
analyzing the ions using a mass spectrometer, wherein the method is performed without pre-purification of the crude oil sample.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mass spectrometer is selected from the group consisting of a bench-top mass spectrometer and a miniature mass spectrometer.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the non-naturally occurring substance in the crude oil is a corrosion inhibitor.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the corrosion inhibitor comprises at least one alkyl ammonium salt.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the alkyl ammonium salt is selected from the group consisting of tetradodecylammonium bromide, benzylhexadecyldimethylammonium chloride, and a combination thereof.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mass spectrometer is coupled with a discontinuous atmospheric pressure interface.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the solvent comprises a mixture of methanol and acetonitrile.

Assignees

• Purdue Research Foundation

Inventors

• Cooks Robert Graham
• Jjunju Fred Paul Mark
• Li Anyin
• Rogan Iman S

Classifications

• H01J49/10

  Ion sources; Ion guns · CPC title

• G01N33/2823 Primary

  Raw oil, drilling fluid or polyphasic mixtures · CPC title

• H01J49/0031

  Step by step routines describing the use of the apparatus (H01J49/0081 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01J49/165

  Electrospray ionisation · CPC title

• H01J49/04

  Arrangements for introducing or extracting samples to be analysed, e.g. vacuum locks; Arrangements for external adjustment of electron- or ion-optical components · CPC title