PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES PREDICTION OF ATMOSPHERIC DISTILLATES (199-371℃+) FROM ITS RAW CRUDE OILS BY FTIR-ATR AND MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

摘要

New refining processes products require the development ofrnnew methods of analysis and modification of the existing ones inrnorder to ensure robust and straightforward methodologies thatrnsupport its needs and research in the characterization of the oilrncharges and its sub products. The crude oils are converted to lighterrnproducts by distillation process and the fractions characterized byrnappropiate tests. It is a necessity to find alternative inexpensive, fastrnand less sample consuming analytical methods that verify the qualityrnand efficiency of the distillation process. Fourier Transform InfraredrnSpectroscopy (FTIR) combined with multivariate techniques can inrnfew minutes provide information about important physicochemicalrnparameters of the petroleum derivated products. This researchrndescribes the development of the predictive models for determiningrnthe physicochemical properties of the atmospheric distillationrnfractions from the spectral analysis of the raw crude oil, usingrnspectroscopy methods and multivariate analysis. The calibrationrnmodels for the crude oils and its distillates were developed usignrnPCA (Principal Component Analysis) and PLS (Partial LeastrnSquare). A total of 32 Colombian crude oil samples and its distillatesrnwere used for calibration and validation. The identification andrnselection of FTIR sections associated to functional and vibrationalrngroups allowed to develop relationships between functionality andrnstructure of the raw crude oils and its atmospheric distillates. Inrnaddition, was possible to predict the yield of the distillation process.rnThe developed methodology provides fundamental information tornevaluate the crude oil and its distillates quality and the crude oilrnprojection yields to valuable products.