Energy & Fuels, Vol.35, No.1, 894-897, 2021
Conversion of Inorganic Chlorides into Organochlorine Compounds during Crude Oil Distillation: Myth or Reality?
In this communication, we reinterpreted the experimental findings offered by Wu et al. about the presence and distribution of organic chlorides in crude oil distillates (Wu, B.; Li, Y.; Li, X.; Zhu, J. Distribution and identification of chlorides in distillates from YS crude oil. Energy Fuels 2015, 29, 1391-1396, 10.1021/ef502450w and Wu, B.; Li, Y.; Li, X.; Zhu, J.; Ma, R.; Hu, S. Organochlorine compounds with a low boiling point in desalted crude oil: Identification and conversion. Energy Fuels 2018, 32, 6475-6481, 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b00205). The results proposed by Wu et al. were examined employing a mass balance approach. From our preliminary analysis, we concluded that crude oil distillation may induce (significant) conversions of inorganic chloride into organic chlorides. Such an alteration in chlorine speciation could be relevant for managing corrosion issues in oil refineries.