Page 94 - Environmental Control in Petroleum Engineering
P. 94
The Impact of Drilling and Production Operations 81
The fourth family of hydrocarbons is the cyclic alkanes, also called
naphthenes or cycloparaffins. These hydrocarbons have the carbon
chain loop back upon itself, forming a ring or cyclic structure. All
carbon-to-carbon bonds are single bonds. The chemical formula for
these compounds has the general form C nH 2n. The chemical structure
of some common naphthenes is shown in Figure 3-4. In accordance
Cyclopropane Cyclobutane
Cyclopentane Cyclohexane
Decalin
(bicyclodecane)
Figure 3-4. Structure of some common cyclic alkanes.
