Natural asphaltenes are defined as polyaromatic compounds whose chemical composition and structure are dependent on their geological origin and production history, hence are regarded as complex molecules with aromatic cores and aliphatic tails that occur in the heaviest fraction of crude oil. The aggregation of asphaltenes presents a range of technical challenges to the production and processing of oil. In this work we study the behaviour of the model asphaltene-like molecule hexa-tert-butylhexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HTBHBC) using molecular dynamics simulation. It was found that the regular arrangement of the tert-butyl side chains prevents the formation of strongly-bound dimers by severely restricting the configurational space of the aggregation pathway. In contrast, a modified molecule with only 3 side chains is readily able to form dimers. This work therefore confirms the influence of the molecular structure of polyaromatic compounds on their aggregation mechanism, and reveals the unexpected design rules required for model systems that can mimic the behavior of asphaltenes.

Clustering behaviour of hexa-tert-butylhexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HTBHBC) and its derivatives has been used as a model system to mimic that of natural asphaltenes. We used light scattering and 1 H-NMR spectroscopy, complemented by molecular dynamics simulation, to examine HTBHBC and its derivatives in toluene and toluene/heptane mixture, over a range of concentrations. The dispersibility of HTBHBC in toluene was found to be strongly dependent on its concentration. At concentrations below 5 mg/mL, HTBHBC appears to be fully dispersed and clustering equilibrium was reached within minutes as shown by scattering intensity measurements. At greater concentrations, the scattering intensity was approximately similar for all concentrations initially, but then decreased very slowly towards an apparent clustering equilibrium within two weeks. The mean hydrodynamic diameter of clusters, measured by dynamic light scattering, was initially around 1 micron for all concentrations greater than 5 mg/mL and then gradually reduced to around 0.4 micron at clustering equilibrium. At concentrations of 10 mg/mL and above, solid deposits were observed in toluene solutions when equilibrium was reached. 1 H-NMR spectroscopy showed that the precipitate was high purity HTBHBC possessing a planar structure, while the liquid phase contained a mixture of planar HTBHBC and its non-planar derivatives, forming colloidal clusters. The results show that the clustering process of asphaltene mimics in toluene can be extremely slow and great care should be taken when preparing equilibrated solutions. We also showed that observations of the solid-liquid equilibrium and clustering behaviour can be strongly dependent on the molecular structure of the polyaromatic compounds found in natural asphaltenes, and the structural and compositional evolution of colloidal clusters following an initial dispersion of asphaltene mimics in solvents.