Application Of Paper Chromatography To Oil Field Problems
Authors: Little Paul A. , Schleimer James A. 
Published: December 2007

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This paper is to be presented at the 38th Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME in New Orleans, La., on Oct. 6–9, 1963, and is considered the property of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Permission to publish is hereby restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words, with no illustrations, unless the paper is specifically released to the press by the Editor of JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the Executive Secretary. Such abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is granted on request, providing proper credit is given that publication and the original presentation of the paper.

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Procedures which bring paper chromatography within the scope of the average oil field laboratory were found useful in obtaining and documenting information needed for the solution of such oil field problems as the selection of chemicals for the control of corrosion, prevention of oil-water emulsions, recovery of oil from sludges and prevention of scale deposits. Counterstaining methods permit identification of treating chemicals. Studies of their mobility in various solvents permit separation and identification of chemical entities and choice of those having more useful properties under field conditions.

Introduction

Paper chromatography is the art of using an absorbent piece of paper to study the behavior of chemical substances in various solvents. Small amounts of the substances to be tested are placed equidistant from each other at pencil points on a line parallel to and about an inch from an edge of a square or rectangular sheet of paper. Selected solvents are then caused to absorb through the paper's edge. As the solvent comes in contact with the paper's edge and passes beyond the points at which the substances are applied, a graphic picture is produced showing the effect of the solvent on the test substances. Since identical substances tend to behave in an identical manner, paper chromatography offers a useful method for demonstrating similarities or detecting significant differences in the chemical nature of the substances tested.

It occurred to us that this is the kind of information needed to supplement the laboratory and field tests presently employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the various treating chemicals used in the petroleum industry. For instance, if chemicals which give outstanding performance in evaluation tests are used as controls, the similarity or dissimilarity in behavior of samples of other chemicals or different lots of the same chemical, when tested on the paper chromatogram, can be interpreted as evidence for or against the likeliness of their performing similarly. Attention might thus be fruitfully directed toward the evaluation of products which are significantly different in chemical properties.

EQUIPMENT LIST

1 quart mason jar, wide mouth with lid Paper clips Spray bottles Support stand Whatman No. 1 chromatographic grade filter paper 0.2 ml pipettes calibrated in .001 ml 150 mm petri dish covers or 100 mm square disposable petri dish

[Note: The plastic top off of a 3-lb coffee can will also serve as a dipping dish.]