劣质重油是未来的主要石油资源，镍、钒含量高是其主要特点，这些金属元素是导致重油加工催化剂中毒的最主要因素。脱除镍、钒元素是改善重质油加工性能的最有效方法，然而目前并没有理想的脱除工艺，关键问题是对于镍、钒化合物分子组成缺乏深入认识，卟啉是已知镍、钒化合物的重要存在形式，但大部分镍、钒化合物的分子结构难以确定，"非卟啉"是否存在及其分子结构是石油化学领域的学术难题。本项目基于傅立叶变换离子回旋共振质谱这一先进技术，从分子水平深入研究镍、钒卟啉化合物化学组成，揭示"非卟啉"的存在形态，建立不同类型镍、钒化合物的分离方法，结合典型重质油加工过程研究镍、钒化合物的分布与转化规律。通过本项目研究，可望解决"非卟啉"是否存在以及以何种形式存在这一科学问题，为重质油加工工艺及催化剂开发提供重要理论指导。

Low quality heavy crudes are important future petroleum supplies, which contain high concentrations of nickel and vanadium compounds. The majority of these nickel and vanadium organic compounds are difficult to remove by desalting process in refinery operations. The metal compounds have detrimental effect to heavy oil processing, leading to catalyst poisoning and rapid catalyst deactivation in resid hydroprocessing and catalytic cracking. Hence, the removal of metal compounds is the key to heavy oil processing. However, the lack of in-depth understanding of the chemistry of metal compounds hampers the development of effective metal removal technology. Even though tremendous efforts have been devoted to nickel and vanadium porphyrins in petroleum feedstock, the challenge is on the chemistry of non-porphyrins. This research project uses the advanced FT-ICR MS analytical technique to characterize the molecular composition of nickel and vanadium compounds. The findings from this research will provide the insight into molecular structure of non-porphyrin compounds. The new findings from this research will also enhance the geochemical understanding of oil and gas formation, migration, and accumulation, which are beneficial to heavy oil exploration and recovery.