Empirical Models to Characterize the Structural and Physiochemical Properties of Vacuum Gas Oils with Different Saturate Contents

Inter-criteria analysis was employed in VGO samples having a saturate content between 0.8 and 93.1 wt.% to define the statistically significant relations between physicochemical properties, empirical structural models and vacuum gas oil compositional information. The use of a logistic function and employment of a non-linear least squares method along with the aromatic ring index allowed for our newly developed correlation to accurately predict the saturate content of VGOs. The empirical models developed in this study can be used not only for obtaining the valuable structural information necessary to predict the behavior of VGOs in the conversion processes but can also be utilized to detect incorrectly performed SARA analyses. This work confirms the possibility of predicting the contents of VGO compounds from physicochemical properties and empirical models.