SEPARATION OF CRUDE OIL FRACTIONS BY GEL PERMEATION CHROMATOGRAPHY

This study was undertaken by the Bureau of Mines to investigate, extend, and apply gel permeation chromatographic (GPC) techniques to the fractionation of highboiling petroleum samples. The use of GPC with specially built columns and appropriate size polystyrene gel successfully effected the separation of several diverse petroleum samples. In general, these separations were made by molecular size. Analytical data such as molecular weight, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, mass spectra, and per cent sulfur on the GPC subfractions provided a measure of the separations attainable. These data establish GPC as a useful supplementary method for separating high-boiling petroleum fractions without exposing the samples to the thermal hazards of distillation. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.