Biodegradation and water washing effect on gasoline range hydrocarbons and quality of crude oils from HJN and MKM fields of upper Assam basin, India

Abstract

The crude oils from Oligocene and Miocene formation of upper Assam basin have moderate API gravity and significant wax content. Crude oils from HJN and MKM fields of upper Assam basin are being produced from Oligocene and Miocene sands. These oils are somewhat biodegraded in nature as evidenced from their API gravity, density, bulk composition, GC fingerprints and relative concentrations of compounds in the gasoline range. It is observed from whole oil gas chromatographic data that the lighter hydrocarbons are more effected as a result of biodegradation and water washing than the heavier components. In the gasoline range compounds highest degradation of n-alkanes are observed followed by iso- and cyclo- alkanes. The extent of the effect of biodegradation of the gasoline range compounds in crude oil samples cannot be illustrated by the concentrations of the compounds. The concentrations only describe qualitative differences in molecular composition. This difficulty can be overcome by using parameters called degradative loss (%). This parameter shows exactly how much loss or gain has taken place in the gasoline range compounds. Within the gasoline range compounds, n-alkanes, Benzene baring HJN 15 and MKM 14 and Toluene experienced degradative loss indicating effects of both biodegradation and water washing in these oils. Cyclo-alkanes are least effected by biodegradation followed by iso-alkanes in all the oils. The extent of biodegradation and water washing is different for each oils from HJN and MKM fields as indicated by the degradative loss (%) of the compounds in the gasoline range.