DETERMINATION OF ASPHALTENE SOLUBILITY IN NAPHTHAS

Thin-layer chromatography with flame-ionization detection and paper ch romatography with densitometric can be used for determining relative a sphaltene (ASP) solubility in naphthas. While tetrahydrofuran (THF) mo ves the ASP with the solvent front, the pattern becomes progressively more diffuse and spread along the bed with increasing proportions of t he tested naphtha in the THF eluent. Quantitative evaluation can be ac hieved using area-slicing of the integrator output and cumulative plot ting of the results. Admixtures of a known pure precipitant (e.g. n-pe ntane, n-hexane) can be used for calibration.