Comparison of g.p.c. elution characteristics and diffusion coefficients of asphaltenes

✍ Scribed by Ruth E. Baltus; John L. Andersen

• Book ID: 103094522
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 680 KB
• Volume: 63
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-2361(84)90292-8

✦ Synopsis

A theoretical analysis of configurational effects on exclusion chromatography (g.p.c.) and diffusion rates of macromolecules is used to interpret data for the diffusion coefficients of petroleum-derived asphaltenes in tetrahydrofuran at 25°C. If theasphalteneconstituentsareconsidered to be rigid, disc-like molecules, the theory and experiments are consistent in that both show the asphaltene diffusion coefficients to be smaller than those of g.p.c.-equivalent polystyrenes. Two conclusions result from this work: (1) polystyrene is not a good molecular model for predicting the diffusional characteristics of asphaltenes; and (2) there is a broad variation (by a factor of ten) of diffusion coefficients among the constituents of one asphaltene extract.