Avaliação geoquímica de biomarcadores ocluídos em estruturas asfaltênicas Geochemical evaluation of occluded biomarkers in asphaltenic structures

<abstract language="eng">Asphaltenes from two Brazilian crude oils were submitted to mild oxidation to disrupt their structure, releasing the occluded oil. The released hydrocarbons were compared with those from the original crude oil, and used to evaluate the alteration of the oils,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Débora de Almeida Azevedo, Tais Freitas da Silva, Daniel Bastos da Silva
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Química 2009-01-01
Series:Química Nova
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-40422009000700017
Description
Summary:<abstract language="eng">Asphaltenes from two Brazilian crude oils were submitted to mild oxidation to disrupt their structure, releasing the occluded oil. The released hydrocarbons were compared with those from the original crude oil, and used to evaluate the alteration of the oils, especially as a result of biodegradation, but also thermal maturity. The crude oils used are depleted in n-alkanes, which are usually related to biodegradation. However, the released products from the corresponding asphaltenes have n-alkane distributions from nC10 to nC40, suggesting a protection effect from biodegradation. The m/z 191 mass chromatograms showed higher relative intensities for tricyclic terpanes than the hopanes in the crude in comparison with the released ones.
ISSN:0100-4042
1678-7064