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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>P.D. Lundegard</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Y.K. Kharaka</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>J.A. Curiale</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>1992</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;Crude oils from Iraq and California have been pyrolyzed under hydrous conditions at 200 and 300°C for time periods up to 210 days, in gold-plated reactors. Elemental (vanadium, nickel), stable isotopic (carbon), and molecular (&lt;i&gt;n&lt;/i&gt;-alkanes, acyclic isoprenoids, steranes, terpanes and aromatic steroid hydrocarbons) analyses were made on the original and pyrolyzed oils. Various conventional crude oil maturity parameters, including 20&lt;i&gt;S&lt;/i&gt;/(20&lt;i&gt;S&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;+ 20&lt;i&gt;R&lt;/i&gt;)-24-ethylcholestane ratios and the side-chain-length distribution of aliphatic and aromatic steroidal hydrocarbons, were measured in an effort to assess the modification of molecular maturity parameters in clay-free settings, similar to those encountered in “clean” reservoirs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Concentrations of vanadium and nickel in the Iraq oil decrease significantly and the V/(V + Ni) ratio decreases slightly, with increasing pyrolysis time/temperature. Whole oil carbon isotope ratios remain fairly constant during pyrolysis, as do hopane/sterane ratios and carbon number distribution of 5&lt;i&gt;α&lt;/i&gt;(H),14&lt;i&gt;α&lt;/i&gt;(H),17&lt;i&gt;α&lt;/i&gt;(H),20&lt;i&gt;R&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;steranes. These latter three parameters are considered maturity-invariant.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The ratios of short side-chain components to long side-chain components of the regular steranes [C&lt;sub&gt;21&lt;/sub&gt;/(C&lt;sub&gt;21&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;+ C&lt;sub&gt;29&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;i&gt;R&lt;/i&gt;)] and the triaromatic steroid hydrocarbons [C&lt;sub&gt;21&lt;/sub&gt;/(C&lt;sub&gt;21&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;+ C&lt;sub&gt;28&lt;/sub&gt;)] vary systematically with increasing pyrolysis time, indicating that these parameters may be useful as molecular maturity parameters for crude oils in clay-free reservoir rocks. In addition, decreases in bisnorhopane/hopane ratio with increasing pyrolysis time, in a clay-free and kerogen-free environment, suggest that the distribution of these compounds is controlled by either differential thermal stabilities or preferential release from a higher-molecular weight portion of the oil.&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1016/0146-6380(92)90100-C</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>Elsevier</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Hydrous pyrolysis of crude oil in gold-plated reactors</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>