On the development of experimental methods to determine the rates of asphaltene precipitation, aggregation, and deposition

Enayat, Shayan; Babu, Narmadha Rajan; Jun, Kuang; Rezaee, Sara; Lu, Haiqing; Tavakkoli, Mohammad; Wang, Jianxin; Vargas, Francisco M.

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2019.116250

Cited by 56 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Petroleum, as the most important source of energy and raw chemical materials, is a complex but delicately balanced system that depends on the relationship of its constituent fractions to each other [1]. Hence, the disturbance of these interactions, such as recovery and refining, may cause sediment formation and asphaltene deposition [2,3], which brings about many negative effects to the petroleum industry, such as the deactivation of catalysts, blocked pipelines, and deposition on the internal surface of the reservoirs [4][5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fractionation and Characterization of Petroleum Asphaltene: Focus on Metalopetroleomics

et al. 2020

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Asphaltenes, as the heaviest and most polar fraction of petroleum, have been characterized by various analytical techniques. A variety of fractionation methods have been carried out to separate asphaltenes into multiple subfractions for further investigation, and some of them have important reference significance. The goal of the current review article is to offer insight into the multitudinous analytical techniques and fractionation methods of asphaltene analysis, following an introduction with regard to the morphologies of metals and heteroatoms in asphaltenes, as well their functions on asphaltene aggregation. Learned lessons and suggestions on possible future work conclude the present review article.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fractionation and Characterization of Petroleum Asphaltene: Focus on Metalopetroleomics

et al. 2020

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“…Even though it is still controversial whether the asphaltene precipitation is a phase change process or a colloidal growth process, most works [19,20,51,12] agree that larger absolute value of the difference of δ between asphaltene and precipitant enhances asphaltene precipitation. Hildebrand solubility parameter difference between asphaltene and pentane is larger than heptane and decane (δ asp − δ pen > δ asp − δ hep > δ asp − δ dec ) [52].…”

Section: Further Discussion: Solvency Influence On the Yield Of Aspha...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, asphaltene precipitation during the transportation of crude oil may cause severe problems such as blockage of pipelines [4,5]. Temperature [6], pressure [7], gas injection [8,9], asphaltene concentration [10], solvent (precipitant) type [11,12,13], and solvent to crude oil ratio [11,13,14,15,16,17] have been shown to play significant roles to control the kinetic of asphaltene precipitation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size distribution of primary submicron particles and larger aggregates in solvent induced asphaltene precipitation

Meng¹,

Sontti²,

Sadeghi³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Asphaltene precipitation is a crucial phase separation phenomenon in the oil industry, especially in paraffinic froth treatment to extract bitumen from oil sands ores. This work reveals the formation of particles at 0.2 to 0.4 µm in radius, defined as a primary submicron particle (PSMP), which is ubiquitous from diffusive mixing between asphaltene solution and any of 23 types of precipitants examined in our experiments. The yield and quantity of asphaltene particles are affected not only by the Hildebrand solubility parameter of the precipitants but also by the diffusion coefficients of the asphaltene solution and the precipitant. The Population Balance Model (PBM) with the Hildebrand solubility parameter has been used to model particle size distribution. Good agreement has been achieved between numerical predictions and the experimental data. It indicates that the colloid theory can describe the size distribution of PSMP and larger aggregates. Therefore, this study provides new insight into the mechanism for the dependence of yield and size distribution of the precipitated asphaltene particles on the composition of precipitants and adding inhibitors. Controlling of asphaltene yield and size distribution may be applied to the process of hydrocarbon separation or asphaltene precipitation prevention.

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“…2 The addition of these chemicals, at low dosages (parts per million levels), may not change the thermodynamics of the system but seem to slow the aggregation process. For instance, in the study by Enayat et al, 52 a NIR spectroscopic technique was developed to investigate the kinetics of asphaltene precipitation and aggregation simultaneously. 52 In this method, immediately after adding a precipitant (n-C 7 ), the transmittance of the oil/ heptane mixture was measured continuously over time.…”

Section: Test Methods For Asphaltene Inhibitorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, in the study by Enayat et al, 52 a NIR spectroscopic technique was developed to investigate the kinetics of asphaltene precipitation and aggregation simultaneously. 52 In this method, immediately after adding a precipitant (n-C 7 ), the transmittance of the oil/ heptane mixture was measured continuously over time. Above the onset point, upon the addition of the precipitant, the kinetics of precipitation and aggregation are fast because the light transmittance decreases sharply until it reaches a plateau.…”

Section: Test Methods For Asphaltene Inhibitorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of the Current Laboratory Methods To Select Asphaltene Inhibitors

Enayat¹,

Tavakkoli²,

Yen³

et al. 2020

Energy Fuels

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Asphaltene deposition is a long-standing problem that threatens the uninterrupted production of crude oil. Unlike other flow assurance problems, downhole asphaltene deposition is not well-understood partly as a result of the complexity and diversity of the asphaltene chemical structure. Continuous downhole asphaltene inhibitor injection is one of the preventive strategies used to mitigate the asphaltene deposition problem. Such chemicals that are injected in low dosage are screened in the laboratory before field implementation. Over the last 20 years, various asphaltene testing methods have been proposed for product selection and research and development. Still, the lack of lab to field correlation remains a challenge for the operators, service providers, and chemical companies. Therefore, the search for robust, rapid, and reproducible lab screening methods for asphaltene inhibitors is ongoing. This review summarizes lab evaluation techniques adopted by different researchers, their governing principles, and the pros and cons. It may serve as a guide for adopting appropriate strategies and pursuing further investigations on the lessons learned. The hope is that, with a more in-depth understanding of the current methodologies, a better workflow can be designed to select the proper asphaltene control products for field implementation.

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On the development of experimental methods to determine the rates of asphaltene precipitation, aggregation, and deposition

Cited by 56 publications

References 36 publications

Fractionation and Characterization of Petroleum Asphaltene: Focus on Metalopetroleomics

Fractionation and Characterization of Petroleum Asphaltene: Focus on Metalopetroleomics

Size distribution of primary submicron particles and larger aggregates in solvent induced asphaltene precipitation

Review of the Current Laboratory Methods To Select Asphaltene Inhibitors

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