Change in the Structure of Asphaltene Macromolecules of the Krapivinskoye Oil Field During Biological Oxidation

Abstract

Using physico-chemical methods of research (elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, selective chemical destruction of sulfide and ester bonds, chromatomass spectrometry) the influence of biodegradation processes on the composition and structure of asphaltenes of light oil at the Krapivinskoye deposit was studied. The results of comparative characteristics of initial asphaltenes and asphaltenes after biodestruction are presented. Attention is paid to studying their structural parameters and composition of fragments bound in asphaltene molecules through ester and sulfide bridges. It has been shown that microbial oxidation of asphaltenes of light oil by aboriginal soil microflora (laboratory experiment) occurs through a series of catalytic processes with formation of intermediate products of transformation – alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and fatty acids. It has been established that “grey and ether-bound” fragments in asphaltene molecules of biodegradable oil differ from “bound” compounds in the structure of the original asphaltenes with the qualitative composition of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons and heteroatomic components