The Effect of Polarity of C2 and C3 Alcohols on the Extraction of Organic Insolubles of Crude Oil Residues

Victoria Bennett

Abstract: The precipitation of insoluble organic solids from a single phase bottom hole representation crude oil residue, Qua Iboe Light Mobile Nigeria, unlimited was studied. One C2 and two C3 organic polar solvents (ethanol, n-propanol and iso-propanol) were used to investigate the effect of polarity of the precipitating solvents. The insoluble organic solids precipitated from ethanol, n-propanol and iso-propanol were 73 %, 53.40 % and 24 % respectively. Based on the results obtained from % composition by weights of insoluble organic solids recovered, ethanol was observed to comparatively have higher insoluble organic solids precipitates (0.7300 g, 73 %) than its counterparts which are less polar solvents (0.5340 g, 53.40 % and 0.2400 g, 24 %). This is attributed to the fact that ethanol is more polar than its counterparts. Probably, this indicates that more polar solvents are better precipitating solvents of insoluble organic solids.

Keywords: Organic solids, polarity, precipitation, composition