Geochemistry of petroleum: Asphaltenes as a source of geochemistry information

Abstract

Because of physical and geochemical similarity of asphaltenes with kerogen, the study of asphaltenes provides information for applications in geochemical petroleum. Either by thermal or by chemical oxidation, the substances obtained from asphaltenes are well correlated with the substances generated by the source rock during natural conditions. In this work, a theoretical study is performed from the information obtained from the research performed with asphaltenes, and their impact and applicability in the petrochemical and environmental industry is investigated.