Petroleum Analysis Through Conventional Analytical Techniques

This chapter offers an overview of the importance of petroleum characterization and explains how the analytical techniques evolved throughout the years, providing readers with the conventional analyses still performed routinely today in the petroleum (oil and gas) and petrochemical industry. It presents a brief history of petroleum analysis and discusses how petroleum analysis influenced developments in gas chromatography. The analytical methods are standardized globally and delivered by organizations such as American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). The petroleum and petrochemical industry considers these methods as the gold standards for petroleum fraction characterization. Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) are a generic term referring to any family or group of hydrocarbons originating from crude oil, while polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) refers to a family of hydrocarbons containing two or more fused aromatic rings. TPH and PAH analyses focus on the environmental impact of petroleum contamination in water, soil, and air samples.