EXPERIMENT 3

IDENTIFICATION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS CHEMICAL COMPOSITION BY

USING FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRA RED SPECTROMETRY (FTIR)

Objectives:
1. To identify the chemical composition of petroleum products, particularly for their
functional group contents by using FTIR Spectrometry
2. To compare the chemical composition of different type of petroleum products based on
their FTIR spectra.

OVERVIEW

A product for petroleum, e.g. gasoline or kerosene, is complex mixture of hydrocarbon. Type of
hydrocarbons in petroleum products can be categorized in three main structure: aliphatic,
olefinic, and aromatic. Figure 1 illustrated the structure of each category. Aliphatic hydrocarbon
is consisted from saturated straight chain of carbon with hydrogen bonding. The most prominent
aliphatic hydrocarbon is alkane, such as propane, butane, octane, decane, etc. Group of alkanes
are also known as paraffin. Olefinic hydrocarbons contain one or more double bonds of C atoms.
Ethylene, propylene, butylene are olefinic hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbons containing six-membered
ring units with three alternate double bonds form an important group known as aromatic
hydrocarbons. The simplest member of this group is benzene, which has only one ring or
nucleus. Compounds with multiple condensed benzene rings are called polynuclear aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAH). Naphthalene is an example of a two-ring PAH.

Aliphatic

Olefinic

Aromatic

Figure 1. Structure of hydrocarbon substance

Various techniques may be employed to identify and determine the chemical composition of
petroleum product, either qualitative or quantitative analysis. Gas Chromatography Mass
Spectrometry (GC-MS) can be used to determine the chemical constituent of petroleum products,
while Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is usually employed to identify the structure of
hydrocarbon. Elemental analysis to determine amount of C, H, O, N and S n hydrocarbon is also
available. To identify the functional groups attached to the petroleum product, Fourier
Transform Infrared Spectrometry can be a reliable method.

FT-IR stands for Fourier Transform InfraRed, the preferred method of infrared spectroscopy. In
infrared spectroscopy, IR radiation is passed through a sample. Some of the infrared radiation is
absorbed by the sample and some of it is passed through (transmitted). The resulting spectrum
represents the molecular absorption and transmission, creating a molecular fingerprint of the
sample. Like a fingerprint no two unique molecular structures produce the same infrared
spectrum. This makes infrared spectroscopy useful for several types of analysis. In this
experiment, FTIR will be used to obtain the spectra of various petroleum products. Based from
the spectra, it will be expected to identify the functional groups present in the petroleum product.

Each functional group, or presence of specific bond type in chemical substance usually has
specific absorption of infrared radiation in certain frequency. As example, absorption of IR at
frequency range of 30002850 cm-1 is assigned for alkene, while absorption peak at 15001400
cm-1 can be considered as aromatics ring. Complete list of absorption peak of FTIR can be seen
in the appendix.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

1. Put one KBr disc on the table

2. Apply one drop of sample on the surface of KBr disc.
3. Put another KBr disc to place the sample in between two discs (see diagram 1)
4. Put KBr discs and sample into the sample holder, then place them into FTIR apparatus
properly.

5. Collect the background spectra, then followed by sample spectra.

6. Take out the sample from FTIR apparatus, repeat step 1 5 for other sample.

DISCUSSION

Based on the FTIR spectra, identify the functional groups contained by petroleum products.
Make comparison of the FTIR spectra in term of functional groups identified and also relative
quantity of similar groups (based on the peak area of the spectra).
APPENDIX: Table of Characteristic IR Absorptions