COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PHYSICOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF SOME CRUDE OIL AND PETROLUEM PRODUCTS

Abstract

Physicochemical analysis of crude oil and petroleum products were carried out on two different samples of crude oil and eight different samples of petroleum products. The parameters tested were specific gravity, API determination, aniline point, kinematic viscosity, water content, distillation profile, flashpoint, pour point and metal content determination. The tests were carried out using standard procedure of American society for testing and materials (ASTM). The result shows that the crude oils were different in terms of API gravity and specific gravity.API gravity of 36.2 and 31.5 respectively for crude oil C1 and C2 shows that they are not heavy crude oil. The low water content and low viscosity of the crude oils lower the risk of pipe and container corrosion and flow difficult. API gravity of gasoline and kerosene was more than 30, while that of engine oil and diesel oil was more than 30.For petroleum products, the result of density, specific gravity, viscosity and kinematic viscosity shows the value of those parameters increase from light fraction to heavy fraction. The pour point and flash point recorded for light fractions was lowered than that of heavy fractions, for both samples of gasoline P1 and P2, flash point is 49.3 oF and 51.1oF while pour point is -3 oC and -5 oC respectively, for Diesel oil D1 and D2 flash point is 244.2 and 240.2 oF and pour point is +3.2 and +3.0 oC respectively. The distillation profile result of both samples of gasoline, showed the temperatures to be in normal range. The level of heavy metal analysed were generally low but metal such as iron, copper, zinc were in abundance in the samples of the crude oil and petroleum products. The results are discussed in terms of importance and implication.