Mass Spectrometry Building Block Analysis for Heavy Hydrocarbons
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for determining the cores or building blocks of heavy hydrocarbon systems, such as vacuum resid, are inefficient due to high analytical costs and time requirements, and often fail to represent all cores, especially larger aromatic and multi-heteroatom molecules, with thermal cracking leading to secondary reactions and altered building block structures.
Innovation Solution
A method involving controlled fragmentation of heavy hydrocarbon molecules within a mass spectrometer using collision-induced dissociation (CID) and multipole storage assisted dissociation (MSAD) to generate and analyze fragment ions, allowing for the determination of aromatic cores and building block distribution without forming coke.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If thermal cracking is used to determine building block distribution, then structural information can be obtained, but coking occurs and alters the building block structure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces thermal cracking (thermal/chemical system) with collision-induced dissociation in a mass spectrometer (physical/analytical system). This substitution allows fragmentation of heavy hydrocarbon molecules into building blocks without the secondary reactions and coking that occur in thermal cracking, thereby obtaining accurate building block distribution data without harmful coke formation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the energy input parameters from high-temperature thermal energy to controlled collision energy in the mass spectrometer. By using controlled collision energies (typically 10-50 eV) instead of thermal cracking temperatures (>400°C), the method achieves molecule fragmentation while avoiding the conditions that lead to coking and structural alteration
2Measurement precision
If detailed characterization of vacuum gas oil is performed to obtain building block information, then some core structures can be identified, but larger aromatic cores and multi-heteroatom molecules are not represented
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the analytical method universal by using mass spectrometry with collision-induced dissociation, which can analyze the complete range of heavy hydrocarbon molecules including vacuum resid, vacuum gas oil, and various fractions. This universal approach detects all building blocks regardless of their size or heteroatom content, eliminating the selectivity limitations of previous methods
3Quantity of substance
If conventional analytical methods are used for heavy hydrocarbon analysis, then some composition data can be obtained, but analytical costs and time requirements are high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex multi-step conventional analytical procedures with a single mass spectrometry analysis using collision-induced dissociation. This substitution provides complete building block distribution data in one analytical run, dramatically reducing both time and cost while maintaining comprehensive composition information
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a comprehensive molecular composition model by detecting and quantifying all building blocks directly in the heavy hydrocarbon sample. This analytical copying approach provides complete compositional information without requiring physical separation or multiple analytical steps, thereby reducing time and cost
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables accurate and efficient determination of building block distributions in heavy hydrocarbons, overcoming limitations of existing methods by reducing analytical costs and time, and providing precise core structure information without altering the molecular structure through coke formation.
Implementation Method 1
ionizing the hydrocarbon to form molecular ions or pseudo molecular ions
Implementation Method 2
fragmenting the ions by breaking aliphatic C—C bond or C—X bond of the ions where X may be a heteroatom such as S, N and O. The controlled fragmentation is performed by collision-induced dissociation
Implementation Method 3
The controlled fragmentation is also enhanced by multipole storage assisted dissociation
Data Source
AI summary
A method for the determination of the aromatic cores or building blocks of a vacuum resid by controlled fragmentation. Molecules can be generated from these building blocks.