Bruker 12 Tesla Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Mass Spectrometer

The Bruker 12 T Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Mass Spectrometer allows a much more comprehensive analysis of most complex organic mixtures such as petroleum. Oil/bitumen is a highly complex mixture which contains > 70,000 organic components. A full understanding of compound functionalities and their impact on physicochemical properties of petroleum -especially severely biodegraded heavy oil and bitumen which are the vast majority of crude oil left in the world with a high percentage of it in Canada- is very important to make the production of these fossil fuels more economic and environmentally friendly.

The Alberta Ingenuity Centre for In Situ Energy develops more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable processes and practices for in situ (in-place) recovery and upgrading of Canada’s oil sands resources with extremely low environmental impact. The high-field FT-ICR-MS will clearly improve the understanding and characterization of hydrocarbon conversion during in situ upgrading processes, which includes comprehensive monitoring of the structural modifications of bitumen macromolecules. The monitoring will assist in predicting bitumen reactivity and fluid properties, and in assessing process reactivity. The high-field FT-ICR-MS will deliver an increasing knowledge of the chemical nature, and therefore reactivity patterns and the physical/chemical properties of the constituent molecules. This understanding is essential to support the recovery of bitumen confined in in situ upgrading, and to selectively enhance the bitumen properties such as viscosity and acidity.

The Bruker 12 T FT-ICR-MS would provide, for the first time, an unparallel window into the complexity of petroleum and would make the Centre outstanding in petroleum research in the world.