Hopane

Hopane

Hopane is a hydrocarbon compound that serves as a biomarker of bacterial biogenesis and is commonly found in sedimentary geological bodies. It is neither generated nor biodegraded during biodegradation of crude oil fractions and can be used as an internal standard for monitoring biodegradation of specific petroleum compounds and total oil in crude oil in the environment.From: Mineral Deposits at the Beginning of the 21st Century [2001], Biomarker characteristics and geological significance of middle and upper Permian source rocks in the southeastern Junggar Basin [2019], Remediation of Petroleum Contaminated Soils [2020]

Petroleum Geochemical Survey

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Published in Muhammad Abdul Quddus, Petroleum Science and Technology, 2021

Muhammad Abdul Quddus

Two examples of common biochemical markers found in petroleum are ‘sterane’ and ‘hopane’ hydrocarbons. Sterane is high molecular weight four cyclic compound derived from steroid or sterol. Hopane is also high molecular compound derived from triterpene.

Biomarker characteristics and geological significance of middle and upper Permian source rocks in the southeastern Junggar Basin

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Published in Petroleum Science and Technology, 2019

Yongqiang Qu, Huifei Tao, Dongzheng Ma, Tao Wu, Junli Qiu

The hopane-series compounds are biomarkers of bacterial biogenesis and are very common in sedimentary geological bodies. The value of the characteristic parameter C31αβ22S/(22S + 22R) of hopane biomarker can be used to identify maturity of organic matters. Values smaller than 0.2 indicate immature organic matters. Values of 0.2 ∼ 0.4 suggest that organic matters reach the low mature stage, while values exceeding 0.4 demonstrate organic matters of the mature stage. Organic matters reaching the oil generation threshold are seen with an equilibrium value of about 0.6 (Zhang et al. 2017).

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Petroleum Geochemical Survey

Biomarker characteristics and geological significance of middle and upper Permian source rocks in the southeastern Junggar Basin