Investigation of metalloporphyrin in maltenes phase of crude oil Duri

Abstract

Abstract The presence of metals and organometals in heavy crude oil is interesting research to study. The most abundant heavy metals and undesirable presence of heavy metals in crude oil are nickel and vanadium. Organometals such as metalloporphyrin can inhibit the catalyst performance in cracking process. Crude oil is classified into asphaltenes and maltenes phases. In this study, isolation of metalloporphyrin in maltenes was perfomed by column chromatography using eluent of n-heptane: ethyl acetate (8.5:1.5) (v/v). The isolated metalloporphyrin was characterized using Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry, FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared), and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). UV-Vis spectrophotometry characterization showed the presence of metalloporphyrin at the maximum wavelength of 480–700 nm. FTIR characterization showed the existence of pyrrole rings vibration, which described as porphyrin compound at the wavenumber of 800 cm−1. LC-MS characterization showed the presence of vanadium bound at porphyrin in maltenes with the molecular formula of C39H36N4VOS.