Simultaneous and rapid asphaltene and TAN determination for heavy petroleum using an H-cell

Alabi, Oluwarotimi; Bowden, Stephen; Parnell, John

doi:10.1039/c4ay00691g

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Both model oil-inwater [21][22][23] and water-in-oil systems [24][25][26] were previously reported in the literature. In the petroleum science, however, the focus of microfluidic applications is rather shifted towards fluid analysis [27][28][29] and very few papers concerning separation can be found 30 . While in microfluidics the effect of gravity is negligible, it still allows to systematically study the merging of drops during flow, in contrast to other techniques that study coalescence in more static conditions 31 .…”

Section: Figure 1 Typical Produced Water Treatment Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microfluidic tools for studying coalescence of crude oil droplets in produced water

Dudek

Bertheussen

Dumaire

et al. 2018

Chemical Engineering Science

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The major contaminant targeted during the treatment of the oilfield produced water is dispersed oil.The efficiency of most separation processes highly relies on the size of the droplets, which can be increased through coalescence. Crude oil has a complex and field-dependent composition, which can affect the interfacial properties of the drops, and consequently the merging process in different ways. This study focused on the development of microfluidic techniques for investigating coalescence between crude oil drops. The experiments were performed with six diluted crude oils and three neat oils, the latter in the presence of an oil-soluble surfactant. The composition of the water phase was systematically varied (pH, ionic composition, presence of dissolved components). In general, crude oil droplets coalesced more readily in lower or neutral pH. The addition of dissolved Fluka acids to the water phase had a unique effect on each crude oil, reflecting their composition.What is more, this effect was similar to the presence of water-soluble crude oil components in the aqueous phase. The pressure did not have a significant effect on the coalescence, which was explained by the lack of the lightest components (C1-C4) in the system. In summary, the results revealed several trends, however it was clear that the coalescence highly depended on the oil composition. This underlined the necessity for experimental methods, such as microfluidics, which allow for quick assessment of the stability of crude oil droplets.

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Section: Figure 1 Typical Produced Water Treatment Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microfluidic tools for studying coalescence of crude oil droplets in produced water

Dudek

Bertheussen

Dumaire

et al. 2018

Chemical Engineering Science

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“…The calculated IFT for the oil-fresh water compares well against a measured value of 23.80 ± 0.40 mN/m and is in good agreement with the reported IFT of the Iranian crude oil, which is similar to our oil. To represent the high acidity of the Arabian crude oil (TAN = 6.5 mg KOH/g oil), , we generated five models (M1–M5) for the oil–fresh water interfaces as detailed in the Methodology section. Figure b indicates that IFT converges in most cases within 300 ns or less.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specificity and Synergy at the Oil–Brine Interface: New Insights from Experiments and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

et al. 2021

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The interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and brine is a key parameter affecting the enhanced oil recovery process. Despite the several theoretical and experimental investigations on the oil–brine system, the salinity effect on the IFT of oil–brine is still not fully understood. There is a contradiction in the literature rather than consistency. In the present study, we combine molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with the pendant drop method to investigate the molecular interactions at the oil–brine interface to better understand the salinity–IFT relationship. Herein, we are taking into account the complex composition of both crude oil and brine and the pH and total acid number. Different salinity conditions have been considered ranging from deionized water to connate (formation) water. We also consider the effects of individual brines of the main alkali salts (i.e., NaCl, MgCl2, and CaCl2) that are common in carbonate reservoirs. The specificity and synergy of the molecular interactions are observed via the confrontation of the results of the mixed brines (seawater and formation water) with those of the individual brines. We observed a significant impact of the divalent cations on the oil–brine interfacial tension. Due to the specificity of the organic acid–Ca2+ type of interaction and the synergy between the different ions, complete encapsulation of the Ca2+ ions has been observed within the formation water brine. This induces the depletion of the organic acids at the interface and thus increases the IFT. Such ionic encapsulation has not been observed in the individual brines because the cation–anion (Cl–) and the cation–water interactions are strong enough to prevent the cation–acid encapsulation. The interplay between the electrostatic interactions and the cations’ dehydration-free energies is the main parameter that controls their specificity and synergy, affecting the oil–brine interfacial properties. This work provides important details on the ionic interactions influencing the interfacial properties between crude hydrocarbons and brine.

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“…80 However, diffusion-based separation works only at microscales, possible only in microdevices that were later shown to be applicable for separating other components of the crude oil and analysis. 81 Simple geometry and rapid extraction demonstrated the possibility of tremendous applications of microfluidics in crude oil composition analysis where immediate measurement of small samples is required. In a recent simplistic approach, a 100 μm microcapillary was used to study the dynamics of asphaltene deposition at various flow rates and the change in asphaltene concentration in capillary flow utilizing the power of microfluidics and avoiding an extensive fabrication procedure.…”

Section: Innovative Microfluidic Designs For Understanding Asphaltene...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The same H-cell was used to extract carboxylic content from the heavy oil to study the asphaltene content . However, diffusion-based separation works only at microscales, possible only in microdevices that were later shown to be applicable for separating other components of the crude oil and analysis . Simple geometry and rapid extraction demonstrated the possibility of tremendous applications of microfluidics in crude oil composition analysis where immediate measurement of small samples is required.…”

Section: Innovative Microfluidic Designs For Understanding Asphaltene...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on Microfluidics for the Study of Asphaltenes in Upstream Hydrocarbon Production: A Minireview

Sharma

Hartman

2022

Energy Fuels

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The utilization of microfluidics has generated deep insights into asphaltene precipitation mechanisms and oil−water emulsion stabilization. Agglomeration and precipitation of asphaltenes can cause flow assurance problems during the extraction and transportation of crude oil. Change in temperature, pressure, reservoir conditions, and solvents can change the local environment, leading to asphaltene precipitation. Understanding asphaltene properties and precipitation pathways becomes critical in devising mitigation methods, demulsifiers, and suitable conditions during hydrocarbon processing. Microfluidics has helped in high throughput measurement studies, understanding critical processing conditions, fast demulsifier screening, and the effect of solvent concentration on deposition, generating useful information for utilization at the point of resource extraction facilitating improved resource management. It has become possible to capture the porous, complex nature of reservoir formations and the interaction of chemicals during precipitation through integrated analytics and visualization studies available only through microfluidics. The use of droplet microfluidics, with optical microscopy and high-speed imaging to study the oil−water interface, has resulted in greater understanding of the role of asphaltenes in interfacial properties and emulsion stabilization. This minireview highlights the crucial aspects of microfluidics that have been used to understand physicochemical behavior and dynamics of asphaltene deposition. Some of the unique devices have been presented focusing on the key elements of microfluidics design, fabrication, and analysis, as the insight obtained from microfluidics strongly depends on the device design and the controllability of the experimental parameters. Successful implementation of microfluidics for efficient and controlled experiments, short analysis time scales and rapid screening, and generation of high-quality, reliable data that convey asphaltene deposition issues and interface behavior in emulsions shows the importance of microsystems for advancing knowledge in hydrocarbon production and processing.

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Simultaneous and rapid asphaltene and TAN determination for heavy petroleum using an H-cell

Abstract: Image of an H-cell device in operation capable of performing accurate asphaltene and TAN assays.

Cited by 10 publications

References 18 publications

Microfluidic tools for studying coalescence of crude oil droplets in produced water

Microfluidic tools for studying coalescence of crude oil droplets in produced water

Specificity and Synergy at the Oil–Brine Interface: New Insights from Experiments and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Perspectives on Microfluidics for the Study of Asphaltenes in Upstream Hydrocarbon Production: A Minireview

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