## 5 Conclusions  
The distillation characterization of heavy oils is an important petroleum characterization method because it provides information about the quality of separation taking place in the oil refining distillation columns. It is also important for the design of new separation equipment. Laboratory physical vacuum distillation tests (ASTM D 1160) and gas chromatographic simulated distillation analyses are typically used to evaluate the efficiency of separation occurring in the oil refining distillation columns which separate mixtures containing heavy oils. These laboratory methods are reported in the literature to be used for the design of new separation equipment. The results of this study support the opinion expressed by some researchers that the HTSD (ASTM D 7169) is superior for the characterization of heavy oils than the physical vacuum distillation test ASTM D 1160. The commercial test performed at a commercial FCC pretreater stabilization column showed that the yield of diesel fraction separated from a H-Oil VGO blend better matched to the content of this fraction in the H-Oil VGO blend measured by the ASTM D 7169 method than that measured by the ASTM D 1160 method. The better distillation characterization of the heavy oils by the ASTM D 7169 method was also confirmed by the use of software process simulator, demonstrating much better agreement between simulation results with the field observations than those obtained during the use of the ASTM D 1160 method. A conclusion could be made that the ASTM D 7169 method could be considered equivalent to TBP for heavy oils boiling above 360 \({}^{\circ}\)C.  
Irrespective of the higher costs for single measurement by the ASTM D 7169 method, this method can deliver a substantial improvement in oil refining margin, which outweighs the costs many times over. Thus, we would consider using the ASTM D 7169 method instead of the ASTM D 1160 in our oil refining practice from now on. The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app122211824/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app122211824/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app122211824/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app122211824/s1)), Figure S1: FCCPT Stabilization Section outlet stream summation to make-up the K-101 feed composition for Simulation Case 1; Figure S2: Simulation Flow diagram for performing Heat and Material balance for Simulation Case 1 with calculated (assumed) process variables vs. instrument readings; Figure S3: FCCPT Stabilization Section outlet stream summation to make-up the K-101 feed composition for Simulation Case 2. The characterization of the H-Oil VGO Blend and the Stabilized HTVGO is based on ASTM D 1160; Figure S4: Simulation Flow diagram for performing Heat and Material balance for Simulation Case 2--ASTM D 1160 with calculated (assumed) process variables vs. instrument readings; Figure S5: FCCPT Stabilization Section outlet stream summation to make-up the K-101 feed composition for Simulation Case 3. The characterization of the H-Oil VGO Blend and the Stabilized HTVGO is based on ASTM D 7169; Figure S6: Simulation Flow diagram for performing Heat and Material balance for Simulation Case 3--ASTM D 7169 with calculated (assumed) process variables vs. instrument readings; Table S1: Properties of wild naphth from the FCC hydrotreating section (FCC pretreater) for both studied cases; Table S2: Properties of diesel fraction from the FCC hydrotreating section (FCC pretreater) for both studied cases; Table S3: Properties of stable hydrotreated VGO from the FCC hydtreating section (FCC pretreater); Table S4: Properties of hydrocarbon gas product from the FCC hydtreating section (FCC pretreater) for both studied cases; Table S5: Properties of FCCPT vacuum gas oil feed for both cases. Conceptualization, D.S. ; methodology, I.S. ; software, S.V. ; validation, R.D., M.I. ; formal analysis, G.A. ; investigation, M.I., G.A., R.D. ; resources, D.S. ; data curation, I.S., D.Y.