Method of acquiring biomarker compound from bio-degraded crude oil

TLDR: In this article, a method of acquiring a biomarker compound from bio-degraded crude oil was proposed, which includes the following steps: (S) extracting asphaltene from the bio-degraded crude oil; (S2) oxidizing the asphalte to obtain an oxidized crude product; and (S3) esterifying the oxidised crude product with an esterification reagent to obtain the biomarker compounds.

Abstract: The invention discloses a method of acquiring a biomarker compound from bio-degraded crude oil. The method includes the following steps: (S1) extracting asphaltene from the bio-degraded crude oil; (S2) oxidizing the asphaltene to obtain an oxidized crude product; and (S3) esterifying the oxidized crude product with an esterification reagent to obtain the biomarker compound. The esterification reagent is a boron trifluoride methanol solution, diazomethane or trimethylsilane diazomethane. When the asphaltene is extracted from the bio-degraded crude oil, the asphaltene is oxidized so that the compounds, which are coated by or bonded to the asphaltene, having an aromatic ring structure can be converted into corresponding carboxylic acids to obtain a corresponding oxidized crude product. The oxidized crude product then is esterified to convert the carboxylic acid into esters. The esters can be free from being coated by or bonded to the asphaltene and be dissolved in a chromatographic solvent, thereby providing a basis for oil-source correlation of the biomarker compound and providing a basis for analyzing information of the bio-degraded crude oil.