Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma-Triple quadrupole Mass Spectrometry (spICP-MS/MS) has been employed for the particle size determination of ultradispersed-catalysts in bitumen or heavy oil fractions. sp-ICP-MS/MS has been emerging as a powerful technique for submicron-nanoparticle domain characterization due to the ability to determine the particle size of any element present as well as its concentration.<br/>Here, we present the application of this technique using as an example, a tri-metallic ultradispersed catalyst formulation containing Mo, Ni, W dispersed in vacuum residue, selected to determine the best conditions to run sp-ICP-MS/MS in hydrocarbon media by using a commercially available ICP-MS/MS instrument.  Plasma stability in hydrocarbon media, nebulization efficiency, and interference removal were evaluated; the total particle size obtained by sp-ICP-MS/MS was compared with the obtained by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) having a sp-ICP-MS/MS/NTA=1.05, indicating sp-ICP-MS/MS can be a complementary technique for particle size determination.<br/>Furthermore, particle size for each element as well as its concentration was measured. Finally, set of UD catalyst formulations; monometallic, bi-metallic and tri-metallic were evaluated to demonstrate the applicability of this technique for such type of samples.<br/>

Characterization of ultradispersed catalysts in heavy oil fractions by single particle inductively coupled plasma-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (sp-ICP-MS/MS)

255th National Meeting (2018)

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