Journal of Chromatography A, 824 (1998) 109–117 Separation of noble gas mixtures from petroleum and their isotopic analysis by mass spectrometry 1 * Daniele L. Pinti , Bernard Marty ´ Laboratoire MAGIE, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie,4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France Received 25 March 1998; received in revised form 6 July 1998; accepted 6 July 1998 Abstract Considerable information on oil exploration can be gained from the isotopic measurement of noble gases dissolved in petroleum. However, this analysis is complicated by (i) incomplete degassing, due to the high solubility of noble gas in petroleum, and (ii) pollution of the analytical devices by organic compounds. Here, a specific facility for the separation of noble gases from petroleum is described. The separation is based on the release of the gases dissolved in petroleum into the headspace of an evacuated container (flashing). Purification of noble gases from reactive gases is performed by using CuO furnaces and Ti–Zr alloy getters.  1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Petroleum; Extraction methods; Oils; Cryogenic separation; Instrumentation; Mass spectrometry; Geochemistry; Noble gases; Gases 1. Introduction 5]. Particularly useful are the atmosphere-derived noble gases (ANGs). ANGs are transported by Noble gases, inert, low in abundance and highly groundwater which has equilibrated with the atmos- mobile elements, are ideal tracers of fluid movement phere [6,7]. Since noble gases are more soluble in oil throughout the continental crust [1–3]. Since the [8] than in water [9], mixing between petroleum and earlier work of Zartman et al. [1] noble gases have groundwater is expected to result in a preferential been used to trace the origin and the migration of partitioning of ANGs in petroleum. Therefore, the natural gas accumulations in sedimentary basins [2– ANG amount in petroleum can provide an indication of the scale of groundwater flow in oil fields [2]. Finally, mantle-derived noble gas isotopes, such as 3 primordial He, can provide information on deep * sources of natural gas deposits [3,5]. Corresponding author. Present address: c / o Prof. Philippe Sarda, ´ Groupe de Geochimie des Gaz Rares d’Orsay, Universite Paris To date, noble gas studies of hydrocarbons have e 11, Batiment 504 3 etage, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France. Fax: been restricted to natural gas reservoirs. Only recent- 133-1-6915-4917. ly Pinti and Marty [10] and Ballentine et al. [11] 1 ´ Present address: Centre des Recherches Petrographiques et have carried out the first complete noble gas studies ´ ´ Geochimiques, BP 20, 54501 Vandoeuvre Cedex and Ecole of a petroleum phase. There are several reasons for ´ ´ Nationale Superieure de Geologie, 1 Rue du Doyen Roubault, 54501 Vandoeuvre Cedex, France. such a limited number of studies. On one hand there 0021-9673 / 98 / $ – see front matter  1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0021-9673(98)00566-4