title: An FTIR method for the analysis of crude and heavy fuel oil asphaltenes to assist in oil fingerprinting.
abstract: A proof-of-concept spectroscopic method for crude and heavy fuel oil asphaltenes was developed to complement existing methods for source determination of oil spills. Current methods rely on the analysis of the volatile fraction of oils by Gas Chromatography (GC), whilst the non-volatile fraction, including asphaltenes, is discarded. By discarding the non-volatile fraction, important oil fingerprinting information is potentially lost. Ten oil samples representing various geographical regions were used in this study. The asphaltene fraction was precipitated from the oils using excess n-pentane, and analysed by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). Based on visual interpretation of FTIR spectra along with peak height ratio comparisons, all ten oil samples could be differentiated from one another. Furthermore, ATR-FTIR was not able to differentiate a weathered crude oil sample from its source sample, demonstrating significant potential for the application of asphaltenes in oil fingerprinting.
authors: Western Sydney University, School of Science and Health, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
authors: Brenden J
authors: BJ
authors: Riley
authors: Western Sydney University, School of Science and Health, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Lennard
authors: Environmental Forensics, Office of Environment and Heritage, Lidcombe, NSW 2141, Australia.
authors: Stephen
authors: S
authors: Fuller
authors: Western Sydney University, School of Science and Health, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia. Electronic address: v.spikmans@westernsydney.edu.au.
authors: Val
authors: V
authors: Spikmans
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005648:Fuel Oils / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D005648:Fuel Oils; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
keywords: Attenuated Total Reflectance; Environmental forensics; Oil spills; Peak height ratios; Source determination