Characterization of Acidic Compounds in Brazilian Tar Sand Bitumens by LTQ Orbitrap XL: Assessing Biodegradation Using Petroleomics

A set of eight tar sand samples with identical source, from sedimentary facies of the Piramboia Formation, Parana Basin, provides an interesting opportunity to assess the biodegradation extent of bitumens using high-resolution mass spectrometry with Orbitrap mass analyzer. The results suggest that acidic compounds have been degraded by microorganisms, since the O2 and O3 classes were lower to bitumens from dry interdune facies, the most biodegraded. It was also proposed a new parameter to evaluate biodegradation, DBE ratio (ratio between acidic species with the same number of double bond equivalent), that was used together with the already proposed A/C ratio (acyclic to cyclic naphthenic acids), both obtained from O2 class distribution. The bitumens from dry interdune facies presented the highest DBE ratios and lowest A/C ratios, which suggested that these parameters can be used to assess the extent of bitumen biodegradation in which the DBE ratios increase and the A/C ratios decrease with increasing biodegradation.