Patent ID: 9513274
Filing Date: 2016-12-06
CPC Classification: G01N

Claim Text:
1. A method for determining Total Acid Number (TAN) in a fluid fossil fuel, comprising: a. separating said fluid fossil fuel by liquid chromatography into a plurality of fractions, comprising at least one acidic fraction, and one polyacidic fraction; b. determining a boiling point distribution of said fluid fossil fuel by simulated distillation (SD); c. determining a boiling point distribution of said acidic fraction by simulated distillation (SD); d. determining a boiling point distribution of said polyacidic fraction by simulated distillation (SD); e. correlating said boiling point distribution of the fossil fuel with the boiling point distribution of the acidic fraction and with the polyacidic fraction along to determine acid molecular weights of the acidic fraction and the polyacidic fraction; and f. calculating the TAN of the fluid fossil fuel based on the acid molecular weights and boiling point distribution of the fluid fossil fuel, boiling point distribution of the acidic fraction and the boiling point distribution of the polyacidic fraction.