Determination of Naphthenic Acid Number in Petroleum Crude Oils and Their Fractions by Mid-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy

Naphthenic acid is a generic name used for all the organic acids present in crude oils. The quantitative determination of naphthenic acid number (NAN) is an essential parameter for petroleum refineries to evaluate corrosive properties of crude oils prior to their processing. Currently, most of the refineries are using total acid number (TAN) as a measure of corrosivity of crudes during their selection, valuation, and processing. Some of the organic molecules are being used as corrosion inhibitors to reduce corrosion in refinery process units, and the dosage of the same depends on the total acid number as it has been understood from the studies that acid inhibitors form a protective layer on the surface of the pipes and thus reduces the corrosion due to acids present in crude oil. TAN measurement by titration overestimates the acid number as each and every molecule like thiols and phenols etc. that are titratable by alkali are also included in the calculation and that causes the improper estimation of the addition of corrosion inhibitors. To get a better refinery margin in the present economic scenario, optimization of the addition of corrosion inhibitors is very much essential and thus accurate measurement of NAN is a primary concern. Hence, we present a quick and efficient mid-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic method for the determination of NAN using a variable path length liquid cell with calcium fluoride windows. Two distinct photon absorption bands in the region of 1680 to 1800 cm^–1 were observed during the spectral measurement and are due to the formation of monomeric and dimeric forms of carbonyl (CO) group of carboxylic acids, and hence both are considered for the quantification. The method is applicable even to highly volatile crude oils that are not measurable by the normal attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-FTIR technique. This article also presents the effect of solvents, hydrogen bonding, formation of monomer and dimer, etc. Currently, this method is being applied for the determination of NAN for crude oils and straight run vacuum gas oil (VGO) samples as they contain either negligible or no carbonyl compounds other than carboxylic acids that interfere in the region of interest.