Abstract
Molecular weight determination is necessary for the structural analysis of potential lubricating oil products derived from oil shale. Three methods — vapour pressure osmometry, gel permeation chromatography and viscosity correlation — for determining the number-average molecular weight of samples derived from the processing of Rundle and Stuart shale oils were studied. Three petroleum-derived lubricating oil base stocks were also analysed for comparison. Results from the three methods for petroleum-derived base stocks were in reasonable agreement. However, for the shale oil-derived samples, the molecular weights from vapour pressure osmometry were lower than those from both gel permeation chromatography and viscosity correlation, and results from viscosity correlation were lower than those from gel permeation chromatography for molecular weights >500. The viscosity correlation method developed for petroleum-derived lubricating oils could not be used to predict the number-average molecular weight for shale oil products as determined by gel permeation chromatography or vapour pressure osmometry.
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