Useful surfactant from polar fractions of fossil fuel

Fossil fuel derived liquids from four origins, shale oil, coal liquid, crude oil, and oil sand bitumen, were subjected to solvent fractionation through a silica gel column. The solvent system for fractions consisted of n-hexane, toluene, and toluene/methanol (for polar fraction). The polar fraction of the shale oil and crude oil were subfractioned by ion exchange chromatography. The columns used anion exchange resin, cation exchange resin, and clay-FeCl/sub 3/ to obtain the acid, base, and neutral fractions, respectively. The polarity increased for each column as more polar solvents were used. The interfacial tension (IFT) of the subfraction was measured and was shown that the most polar fraction of the anion exchange column was from shale oil. This value was 0.0012 dyne/cm at 200 ppm (sodium silicate), which is 100 times lower when compared with the fraction from petroleum, making a useful surfactant from low cost shale oil.