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Changes in Concentration and Distribution of Biomarkers in Biodegraded Oils from Dongying Depression, China

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Abstract

The alkane fraction of 11 biodegraded oils and five non-biodegraded oils from the Dongying Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, eastern China, were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to investigate the biomarker alteration caused by biodegradation. Results indicated that the concentration of 25-norhopanes was correlated with increased biodegradation. The oil samples showed an increase in the C31 and C32 hopane 22S/(22S + 22R), C29 sterane C2920S/(20S + 20R), and C29ββ/(ββ + αα) thermal maturity parameters in the heavily biodegraded oils. Oleanane was preferentially biodegraded compared with C3017α-hopane, which was preferentially biodegraded compared with C2917α, 21β-norhopane, C30 moretane, and C29 25-norhopane. The selective depletion of C27–C29 steranes followed the order ααα 20R > ααα 20S + αββ 20R > αββ 20S and C27 > C29 > C28, and the diasteranes and C20–C21 steranes were much more resistant to biodegradation than regular C27–C29 steranes. The steranes were generally preferentially biodegraded compared with the hopanes in this study.

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Acknowledgments

This work was co-funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 41272140), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2015M571227).

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geoscience, China University of Petroleum, Changjiang west road, 66#, Huangdao district, Qingdao, Shandong, 266580, China

    Zhonghong Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, Faculty of Natural Resources and Information Technology, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, PR China

    Zhonghong Chen & T.-G. Wang

  3. Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources of Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Detian Yan

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Chen, Z., Wang, TG. & Yan, D. Changes in Concentration and Distribution of Biomarkers in Biodegraded Oils from Dongying Depression, China. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 177, 713–731 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-015-1775-z

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