Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in solid reservoir bitumen from the central Sichuan Basin

ABSTRACT

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in solid bitumen from the central Sichuan Basin have been investigated. Several compounds including fluoranthene (Fl), pyrene (Py), benz[a]anthracene (BaA), chrysene (Chy), benzofluoranthenes (BFl), and benzopyrenes (BePy) are found to have enhanced concentrations in several samples. Abnormally high values of the Fl/(Fl + Py), BaA/(BaA + Chy), and BFl/(BFl + BPy) ratios are also observed. In addition, they have parent aromatic compounds that are considerably more abundant than their alkyl homologues. These features indicate that formation of the solid bitumen is probably related to abnormal heating, which may be induced by hydrothermal activity.

KEYWORDS:

• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
• solid bitumen
• secondary alteration
• abnormal heating
• sichuan basin

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant number 2016M602217), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41702140) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant number 18CX02183A). Dr. James Speight, Dr. Carolyn Abram and the reviewer(s) are gratefully acknowledged for their constructive comments.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant number 2016M602217), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41702140) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant number 18CX02183A).