Microcosm study: Understanding the mechanism of photochemical oxidation of crude oil

Macondo surrogate and heavy crude oil (bitumen) underwent photo-oxidation in a solar simulator for 0-10 days. Both were fractionated to yield structurally defined fractions: saturates, 1-ring, 2-ring, 3-ring, 4-ring, and 5+ring aromatics. Those fractions with acceptable yields underwent photo-oxidation as well, to determine each structural class's contribution to the transformation products. The dataset includes the positive-ion electrospray ionization (+ESI) and negative-ion ESI (-ESI) data for the oil and water-soluble photoproducts and starting material from the ring fractions. The related positive-ion atmospheric pressure photoionization (+APPI) data for the ring fractions can be found under GRIIDC Unique Dataset Identifier (UDI) R5.x290.000:0001 (10.7266/n7-w8rh-ev52).