Abstract: The present invention is in relation to a method and its apparatus, by means of which HCl generation formed from hydrolysis reactions or thermal decomposition of chloride salts is continuously monitored. Its application is in oil refining or in any other area where chloride salts are heated to temperatures high enough to cause hydrolysis reactions or thermal decomposition. The invention allows for a much more sophisticated and precise record of the thermal events that occur as a function of temperature. It also allows the behavior of chloride salts subjected to these conditions to be evaluated, both in model systems and in industrial saline solutions, with respect to the respective content, composition, or presence of components in the oil phase, such as carboxylic (naphthenic acids) or nitrogenous (ammonia or amines) acids.

Abstract: A process for API GRAVITY enrichment and the reduction of naphthenic acidity of petroleum, heavy petroleum, extra-heavy oil and oil mixtures and their fractions in the presence of microwave-absorbing materials, preferentially those which absorb radiation in localized sites forming nanoreactors, pure or in mixtures such as spent hydrotreatment catalysts. The process is characterized by causing an increase in the API GRAVITY of the petroleum or its mixtures, performing the cracking of the heavier fractions present in the petroleum and reducing the concentration of naphthenic acids present in the processed petroleum. This process is also characterized by operating at a relatively low temperature and pressure with an operating range that enables a simplified union of the microwave source with a petroleum enrichment industrial reactor.