Continuous-distribution kinetic analysis for asphaltene hydrocracking

Kinetic analysis of macromolecular conversion has many difficulties such as definition of rate of conversion and molecular-weight determination. Conti nuous-distribution kinetic analysis has been proposed for kinetic evaluatio n of asphaltene hydrocracking. Asphaltene has the molecular-weight distribu tion (MWD) spanning continuously in the wide range, A gel permeation chroma tography (GPC) is a practical and convenient method to observe MWDs of reac tion mixtures during the conversion, A mathematical model was presented usi ng simple schemes of chemical reactions representing overall reactions to i nterpret experimental results. The weights and MWDs of asphaltene component s were converted into the corresponding zeroth moment (molar concentration) and first moment (mass concentration), and the time-dependent changes of t hese moments gave the apparent kinetic parameters of the overall reactions.