US 12,354,712 B2
Method to prepare virtual assay using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Omer Refa Koseoglu, Dhahran (SA)
Assigned to Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Feb. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/681,894.
Prior Publication US 2023/0274804 A1, Aug. 31, 2023
Int. Cl. G16C 20/30 (2019.01); G01N 24/08 (2006.01); G01N 33/28 (2006.01); G16C 20/20 (2019.01)
CPC G16C 20/30 (2019.02) [G01N 24/081 (2013.01); G01N 33/2835 (2013.01); G01N 33/287 (2013.01); G16C 20/20 (2019.02)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for producing a virtual assay of an oil sample, wherein the oil sample is characterized by a density, wherein the oil sample is selected from a group consisting of crude oil, bitumen and shale oil, and wherein the oil sample is characterized by a naphtha fraction, a gas oil fraction, a vacuum gas oil fraction and a vacuum residue fraction, the method comprising:
preparing a solution of the oil sample by mixing the oil sample with a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy solvent;
operating an NMR spectrometer with the solution to obtain NMR spectroscopy data by directly analyzing the oil sample without distillation;
entering into a computer, the NMR spectroscopy data, wherein the NMR spectroscopy data is indicative of aromatic content, and optionally one or both of paraffinic content and naphthenic content, of the oil sample, wherein the aromatic content, and the optionally one or both of the paraffinic content and the naphthenic content, are used as one or more analytical values (AVs); and
calculating and assigning, as a function of the one or more AVs, and the density of the oil sample, virtual assay data of the oil sample and the naphtha fraction, the gas oil fraction, the vacuum gas oil fraction and the vacuum residue fractions, the virtual assay data comprising a plurality of assigned assay data values,
wherein the virtual assay data is used to evaluate the oil sample without distillation and is used to determine an appropriate refinery or refining unit,
wherein the virtual assay data comprises:
the plurality of assigned assay data values pertaining to the oil sample including one or more of the aromatic content, C5-asphaltenes content, elemental composition of sulfur and elemental composition of nitrogen, micro-carbon residue content, total acid number and viscosity;
the plurality of assigned assay data values pertaining to the vacuum residue fraction of the oil sample including one or more of the elemental composition of sulfur and the micro-carbon residue content;
the plurality of assigned assay data values pertaining to the vacuum gas oil fraction of the oil sample including one or more of the elemental composition of sulfur and the elemental composition of nitrogen;
the plurality of assigned assay data values pertaining to the gas oil fraction of the oil sample including one or more of the elemental composition of sulfur and the elemental composition of nitrogen, the viscosity, and indicative properties including aniline point, cetane number, cloud point and pour point; and
the plurality of assigned assay data values pertaining to the naphtha fraction of the oil sample including one or more of the aromatic content, elemental composition of hydrogen and the elemental composition of sulfur, paraffin content and octane number.