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Identification and quantification of alkene-based drilling fluids in crude oils by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with flame ionization detection.

Reddy CM, Nelson RK, Sylva SP, Xu L, Peacock EA, Raghuraman B, Mullins OC

Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. creddy@whoi.edu

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC x GC-FID) was used to measure alkene-based drilling fluids in crude oils. Compared to one-dimensional gas chromatography, GC x GC-FID is more robust for detecting alkenes due to the increased resolution afforded by second dimension separations. Using GC x GC-FID to analyze four oil samples from one reservoir contaminated with the same drilling fluid, C(15), C(16), C(17), C(18) and C(20) alkenes were identified. The drilling fluid that contaminated these samples also differed from another commercially obtained fluid, which only contained C(16) and C(18) alkenes. These results should motivate the petroleum industry to consider GC x GC-FID for measuring drilling fluids.

Published 4 April 2007 in J Chromatogr A, 1148(1): 100-7.
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