Crude oil and other fossil fuels are not only a complex mixture of hydrocarbons but often exist in a complex environment.  The study of these is therefore normally elusive due to the masking of the complex web of moieties. In practice, preliminary characterization and identification of compounds in these mixtures involve extraction and separation. The protocols employed in these are typically depended on the desired analyte and are often quite rigorous and quite time consuming. Given the increased incidences of crude oil spills and other related fuels, there is need for development of simpler and less expensive protocols for rapid use. In this study, a systematic comparison of the extraction and separation protocols involving shaking, vortexing, flash chromatography and soxhlet are compared in the extraction and separation of crude oil sediment samples from the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the BP crude oil spill.

Petroleum hydrocarbons: Effectiveness of extraction and separation from complex matrix

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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