Flash Pyrolysis Coupled to GCxGC-TOFMS and GC-High Resolution TOFMS for Characterization of Crude Oil and Petroleum Fractions

As the world’s remaining deposits of petroleum become heavier it's important to understand the chemical nature of heavy crude oil and its fractions. The analysis of high boiling point constituents of crude oils adds a new dimension for the complete characterization of crude oil. In this study we evaluated the use of a pyrolysis probe (Py) coupled to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) time-of-flight (TOF) and GC high resolution time-of-flight (HRTOF) mass spectrometry (MS) for the characterization of crude oils and asphaltene fractions.