Abstract: Metal elements in petroleum can adversely affect petroleum processing. Some metal elements can be removed by electrodesalination, while the metal porphyrin compounds are more difficult to remove. Metal porphyrin compounds have complex structure and generally concentrated in colloid and asphaltene. With the development of analytical technology, a comprehensive understanding of the metal porphyrin compounds has been gradually gained. This paper systematically summarized the research progress of analytical methods for metal porphyrin compounds, outlined the characteristics of various separation and characterization methods, and gave an outlook on the direction of research on the molecular structure of metal porphyrins by new analytical methods.

Key words: petroleum, metalloporphyrin, mass spectrometry, molecular simulation