oa CATAGENETIC EVOLUTION OF THE COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF ASPHALTENE COMPONENTS OF ORGANIC MATTER

The revealed tendency of changes in the elemental and structural-group composition of asphaltene components of the organic matter of different origins at different stages of transformation is concerned with:

1. the formation of the composition and structure of OM asphaltenes occuring at the stage of diagenesis, which are largely predetermined by the initial substrate of the organic matter;
2. the identified trend for polymer condensation changes in both genetic types of OM at the initial stage of thermocatalytic transformations;
3. the directed process of asphaltene graphitization taking place during catagenesis, which is accompanied by a decrease in hydrogen content, an increase in the proportion of aromatic and condensed structures among them, and is characterized by a decreasing role of alkyl and cycloalkyl hydrocarbon substituents of their molecules.

A linear dependence of the change in composition and structure during thermocatalytic transformations which will make it possible to develop catagenesis grades based on the data obtained from the study of asphaltenes within the entire range of stages.