Analysis of oil residues, collected days to years after the 2010 <i>Deepwater Horizon</i> (DWH) disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, revealed the formation of a non-native fraction enriched with bulk elemental oxygen (i.e., %O by mass) and carbonyl content (i.e., C=O infrared stretching intensity). These partially oxidized compounds are quantitatively relevant, comprising upwards of 50% of the mass of the oil floating on the sea surface. This oxidized fraction has an elution profile similar to resins and asphaltenes with thin-layer chromatography with flame ionization detection (TLC-FID), and are not soluble in hexane or other non-polar solvents. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) also provided unambiguous support that these products are oxygenated. Multiple lines of evidence indicated that photochemical oxidation was the driving mechanism for their formation. In jest, these photochemical transformation products could be called “spillphatenes.” They have many of the same properties of resins and asphaltenes in crude oils described by Dr. Oliver Mullen and colleagues. However, the timing of their production is notably distinct. The “spillphatenes” were rapidly produced (days to weeks) in the sunlit waters of the Gulf of Mexico, compared to the geologic timescale of resins and asphaltene production in petroleum reservoirs. This is a new field to oil spills, with little known about their structure or behavior. With numerous laboratory groups now studying the “spillphatenes,” there is a great opportunity to exchange ideas and techniques with experts in resin and asphaltene chemistry, including subsurface petroleum geochemists and refiners. This talk ideally will seek input from the latter on gaining greater knowledge into these newly defined transformation products found after oil spills.

Production of spillphatenes following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster

255th National Meeting (2018)

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