Date of Award

2014-01-01

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Engineering

Advisor(s)

Russell R. Chianelli

Abstract

Nickel and Vanadium have always been found in crude oil all around the world. The metal content is found mainly in porphyrin structures in the asphaltene fraction of the petroleum. In order to determine the reason for this natural preference, a set of experiments testing thermodynamics, kinetics, and other factors were performed. Candidate metalloporphyrins containing Vanadyl, Chromium, Iron, Nickel, Copper and Zinc were analyzed through chemical reactions characterized using Silica Column Chromatography, HPLC, MS and UV-Visible. Theoretical analysis of the stability of metalloporphyrins was conducted using DFT/NRLMOL for computational calculation. The analysis of all factors leads us to conclude that the presence of Nickel and Vanadium in petroleum depend on different factors, not only on the stability of the structures, but mainly on abundance in the medium rising from biological processes.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

254 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

OLIENKA P. DE LA O FERNANDEZ

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