Separation and Characterization of Organic Chlorides in a Chinese Crude Oil

A crude oil from Shengli oilfield of China was extracted with N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) for separation and enrichment of organic chlorides. The resulting extract with relatively higher chlorine concentration was analyzed with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Among the identified heteroatom compounds in the extract sample, nitrogen‐containing compounds were most abundant in the extract sample, followed by chlorine‐, sulfur‐, and oxygen‐containing compounds, respectively. Four organochlorines with an aromatic core structure, i.e., 5‐chloro‐2‐methylaniline, 2‐chloro‐6‐methylaniline, 4‐chloro‐2‐nitrotoluene, and 1‐(5‐chloro‐2‐hydroxyphenyl)ethanone, were identified from crude oil extract. The dominant abundant organic chloride is 5‐chloro‐2‐methylaniline with relative content of 65.1% in the total of identified organic chlorides, followed by 1‐(5‐chloro‐2‐hydroxyphenyl)ethanone of 16.3%, 2‐chloro‐6‐methylaniline of 14.5%, and 4‐chloro‐2‐nitrotoluene of 4.1%, respectively.