Interfacial properties of the products of ozonolysis of Hamaca crude oil

A sample of extra-heavy Hamaca crude oil, dissolved in carbon tetrachloride , was oxidated with ozone for a few minutes. The reaction mixture was washe d with a concentrated solution of HCl, neutralized with sodium carbonate, a nd the products were extracted from the aqueous phase. The products were ch aracterized by using gel permeation chromatography (GPC), elemental analysi s,H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Fourier transformed infrared (F TIR)) techniques. The results of the analyses show that the products have l ower molecular weights, lower aromatic character, and higher oxygen content than the original sample. They also indicated that these products were mai nly carboxylic acids, aldehydes, and/or ketones, with a higher affinity for water than for carbon tetrachloride, the organic solvent that was used. In terfacial tension gamma measurements (water-toluene) performed with these p roducts showed a linear dependence with concentration, where gamma dropped from 32 to about 7.7 dinas/cm at the apparent critical Micelle concentratio n (cmc) (2 g/L). Larger quantities of a commercial sample of nonylphenol et hoxylated were needed for an equivalent gamma drop. In another experiment t he above oxidated product was mixed with Furrial asphaltene in toluene, and gamma measurements were performed as above and compared with the values ob tained for the same experiment using the ethoxylated surfactant. In this ca se, the gamma values for the oxidated product were higher, suggesting a bet ter adsorption on the asphaltene colloids. These preliminary results sugges t that these oxidated products could be employed as general surfactants in the oil industry.