Simulated Distillation

Purpose
The boiling range distribution of petroleum fractions provides insight into the composition of various
products and feedstocks. Simulated distillation procedures can provide useful information in terms of
potential mass yield of products as well as aid in optimizing operational conditions at the refinery.
Methods
1. ASTM D2887 (Low Temp Sim Dist): Applicable to products having a boiling point range of 100-
1000°F (C5-C44). This includes diesel, kerosene, LCO, and other middle distillates. This does not
include gasolines or naphthas which are covered by ASTM D7096. Our facility does not currently
perform this method. Recovery determined by this method is normalized to 100%.
2. ASTM D6352: Applicable to products having a boiling point range of 345-1292°F. This includes
medium and heavy distillates such as VGO and fuel oil. Recovery determined by this method is
normalized to 100%.
3. ASTM D7169 (High Temp Sim Dist): This method is used to determine boiling point ranges from
100-1328°F (C5-C100). It is applicable to products which have residues such as crude oils and
VTB. This means that the recovery must be determined using an external standard and
confirmed by MCRT.
Sample Preparation (all methods)
As with any GC work, it is important to protect against the loss of light ends for all three methods. To an
empty, tared 20 ml scintillation vial, weigh about 0.1 g of sample. Tare the vial, and weigh about 10 g of
carbon disulfide (CS2). Cap tightly immediately as CS2 is highly volatile. Mix well and transfer a portion
to a GC vial for analysis.
Reference Oil Preparation (all methods)
The preparation of reference oil is identical to sample preparation. The only difference is the type of
reference oil to be used. For D2887, you’ll use reference oil lot #2. For D6352 and D7169, use reference
oil 5010. Both of these references are located in the bin by the sample prep scale.
Sequence Setup
A CS2 blank run needs to be performed at the beginning of every sequence for every method with no
exception. As with Low Ox and PONA runs, this is an instrument conditioning run only. A typical
sequence should go as follows:
1. Blank
2. Reference oil
3. Sample
4. Blank
If more than one sample are to be run in sequence, they should be separated by blanks and the
sequence should always be bracketed with blanks as the first and last injections. D2887 and D6352 do
not require liquid nitrogen (LN2) for oven cooling. When beginning a sequence for D7169, it will be
necessary to open the valve of the LN2 dewar that leads to the GC oven. Always be sure to close the
valve of the LN2 at the end of a D7169 sequence.
Once the sample vials are positioned in the autosampler turret, you’ll need to access “Instrument 1
Online” in Chem Station. To begin a new sequence, click sequence, then sequence parameters.
Enter the desired name for your sequence under “Subdirectory” in the pop-up window. The format should be
the date as mmddyy. If there are more than one sequence in a day, the sequence name should be followed by
a, b, c, etc.
Once you’ve named the subdirectory, click OK. You’ll be asked if you want to create a new subdirectory, the
answer is yes.
Next go back to the sequence drop down menu and click “Sequence Table”. This is where you will enter your
sample information, method to run, and vial locations.
Return to the sequence menu, click “Save Sequence Table As”, and enter the same thing you put in
“Subdirectory” above in the “File Name” window. Then, click ok.
At this point, if running D7169 and you haven’t already, open the LN2 valve to the GC oven.
Next, click “Run Control”, then “Run Sequence”.

Once the sequence starts, you should check back once in a while to make sure there are no errors and
that you are getting signal.
Once the sequence is complete, you should check that you have good reference, sample, and blank runs
before processing. To do this, start by opening the Instrument 1 Offline Chem Station.
In the offline mode, first open the sample (or reference) you want to check, then overlay it with the
blank you want to use. Never use the first blank in sequence.
The point here is to check that the baseline of the blank does not cross the baseline of the sample. You
can zoom in on the chromatogram by clicking on “Integration”, then the “+”, then click and drag over
the area you want to enlarge. The example below shows a typical LCO sample overlaid with a good
blank. Notice that at no point during the run does the blank baseline cross over the sample base line. If it
does, another blank needs to be used and/or run prior to moving on with processing in “Sim Dis Expert”.
Sim Dis Expert
Once you have determined that the blank, reference, and sample data look ok, open Sim Dis Expert. The
software requires a dongle which looks like a jump drive and should be in the USB plug in the front of
the PC. If it is not, it should be in the drawer directly below. Note that the Hydrocarbon Expert software
also requires one and that they can only be used one at a time.
Click “Load Signal”

Click the yellow “+”
Choose your data file from the subdirectory you saved it in earlier (note that this will be
C:>Chem32>1>Data>Subdirectory). Double click the “.SSM” file.
In the “Parameter” drop down menu, you’ll need to choose the method you want to process under
(there’s a quirk in this version of the software that requires this).
For D2887 and D6352, the “Mode” for both sample and reference oil will be “Sample”. We will cover
D7169 reference oil later.
In the “Blank” column, select the blank file that corresponds to the one you selected earlier in the offline
Chem Station. Then click the green check mark.
Below is a typical LCO sample. There are 3 icons to pay attention to. First click to show the blank (it will
appear as a dotted line). The others are the blue triangles at the front and back of the chromatogram
labeled as start and end of material below.
This is where the processing comes in. In the example above, the FBP is too far out (1068°F), so it’ll need
to be adjusted. To adjust the end of material, just click and drag the triangle in to where it should be on
the chromatogram. To adjust the start of material, determine where the end of the CS2 peak is in the
blank, and drag the front triangle there. Do not make any adjustments to the diamonds that surround
the blank peak. Remember that the IBP and FBP are defined as 0.5 and 99.5% recovered respectively, so
that means those markers will be in front of and behind the start and end of material markers (blue
triangles).
When you’re ready to print results, click the book icon on the upper right, then “Boiling Point Table”.
The below example is the raw data to be included with the work order. You should always check the
footer of the report to be certain the correct sample and blank are indicated.

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Purpose

Sample Preparation (all methods)

Reference Oil Preparation (all methods)

Next, click “Run Control”, then “Run Sequence”.

Click “Load Signal”

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