Sharif Digital Repository

Despite the numerous experimental studies concerning asphaltene, the extent of reversibility of asphaltene aggregation at reservoir conditions remains still an elusive and controversial issue in the available literature. In this work, a series of depressurization and repressurization experiments were performed on three different live oils for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the reversibility of asphaltene aggregation under typical pressure and temperature conditions of oil fields. The obtained results reveal that the kinetics and the extent of reversibility of asphaltene aggregation at elevated pressure and temperature are majorly controlled by the characteristics of the reservoir... 

Precipitation, aggregation, and breakup of asphaltene particles are studied under natural depletion and nitrogen injection processes by means of high pressure filtration and a photographic procedure coupled with image analysis. Filtration results show that nitrogen destabilizes asphaltenes extremely, and the problem is more severe for heavier crude samples. Bimodal histograms of particle size distribution show two agglomeration mechanisms: cluster aggregation dominant around bubble point pressure and diffusion limited far away. The fractal structure of aggregates is also altered by gas injection; it is observed that the flocculent masses grow in size and become more compact and organized... 

Interfacial tension (IFT) is known as the critical parameter affecting the efficiency of CO2 flooding during the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process. Besides, the asphaltene precipitation phenomenon is reported as the most significant problem during CO2 injection into asphaltenic oil reservoirs. Accordingly, it is important to examine the effect of asphaltene precipitation on the IFT behavior of the oil-CO2 system at reservoir conditions. The main objective of this research work is to study of the effect of asphaltene and its type on the IFT behavior of the oil-CO2 system. The IFT between pure CO2 and a model oil both with and without asphaltene was measured using an axisymmetric drop shape... 

Interfacial tension (IFT) is known as the critical parameter affecting the efficiency of CO2 flooding during the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process. Besides, the asphaltene precipitation phenomenon is reported as the most significant problem during CO2 injection into asphaltenic oil reservoirs. Accordingly, it is important to examine the effect of asphaltene precipitation on the IFT behavior of the oil-CO2 system at reservoir conditions. The main objective of this research work is to study of the effect of asphaltene and its type on the IFT behavior of the oil-CO2 system. The IFT between pure CO2 and a model oil both with and without asphaltene was measured using an axisymmetric drop shape... 

In spite of the development of different experimental methods and theoretical models devoted to understand and predict the asphaltene behavior in dead/model oils, the asphaltene aggregation phenomena in live oil systems at high pressure-high temperature conditions has been grossly missing in the available literature. In this study, a population balance model with geometric scaling approach is proposed to simulate the asphaltene aggregates growth in time for live oil systems. Appropriate collision kernels are incorporated to describe the aggregation mechanisms taking into account the effect of pressure, temperature and oil characteristics. In modeling of the asphaltene aggregation phenomena... 

Asphaltene precipitation and deposition is a serious issue in all facets of petroleum production and processing. Despite the numerous experimental efforts concerning asphaltenes, the effect of temperature on asphaltene precipitation and aggregation in live oils remains an elusive and controversial subject in the available literature. In this work, a series of high pressure-high temperature depressurization experiments were designed to assess the effect of temperature on asphaltene precipitation and aggregation in light live oils. Asphaltene related experiments were performed using a high pressure microscope and high pressure-high temperature filtration setup on a light live oil with a low... 

In this work, high-pressure microscopy technique was used to measure the size and fractal dimension of asphaltene aggregates formed in different live oil samples at elevated pressures and temperatures. It was found that the asphaltene aggregates in live oil samples are irregular fractal-like structures with pressure−temperature-dependent fractal dimensions. By monitoring the variation of the fractal dimension and size of the asphaltene aggregates with pressure and temperature, the mechanisms responsible for asphaltene aggregation process at elevated pressures and temperatures can be well predicted. The range of fractal dimension of asphaltene aggregates in live oils is similar to that... 

A new two-dimensional dynamic model was developed to simulate asphaltene precipitation, aggregation, and deposition at isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. The perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory equation of state was used to model the asphaltene precipitation. Also, novel kinetic models were used to account for the aggregation and deposition of asphaltene particles. The effect of the aggregate size on the rate of aggregation and deposition was studied, and it was concluded that the rate of asphaltene deposition increases, while the concentration of nanoaggregates increases in the well column. The tendency of smaller aggregates to deposit on the surface could be... 

Asphaltene precipitation and deposition causes many serious problems to the petroleum industry from the reservoir to the surface facilities. Therefore, it is important to bring it under control by finding a method to accelerate or slow down its precipitation and deposition. For achieving this purpose two parameters play an important role; onset point of the precipitation and amount of the deposited phase. When asphaltene precipitates, it is capable of depositing in the solution. After the deposition, the solution split into two phases; asphaltene-rich and asphaltene-lean. Determining the amount of the deposited phase needs to distinguish the interface between two phases. In this study, a... 

Recently, ultrasonic wave technology has received much attention as a method for removal of asphaltene deposits from the near wellbore region. However, very little is known about another feature of this technology on the kinetics of asphaltene molecules aggregation. In this work, the kinetics of asphaltene flocculation in several crude oil samples exposed to ultrasonic waves for different time intervals is studied by confocal microscopy. The colloidal structural evolutions of flocks are described by analysis of size distribution of flocculated asphaltene particles. The results show that for the first 90 min of flocculation time, the size of aggregates increases rapidly, and a... 

In this work, the electrokinetic properties of asphaltene particles have been investigated. Micro-electrophoresis method by applying DC electric field, was utilized to different mixtures containing asphaltene to determine its electric charge. It was observed that in the case of using n-heptane and its mixture with toluene (heptol), the asphaltene particles were showed to be positively charged however for toluene itself, they expressed no tendency toward the electrodes. While it is expected that larger asphaltene aggregates carry higher electric charge, the results contradictorily showed that they are mainly governed by gravity rather than electro-static force and that “aggregation” reduces... 

Asphaltene deposition in the early stage of the oil reservoir life and later during any stimulation process emerges critical problems to the petroleum industry. Deposition of asphaltene aggregates raises strict problems in industries and demands markedly a practical and scientific knowledge of the mechanisms of aggregation and precipitation. Fluorescence emission spectroscopy has been widely used to illuminate the fundamental properties of crude oils and asphaltenes. It proposes analysis of some details of equilibrium, dynamic behavior, and aggregation composition of crude oil under specific condition. In this work, the fluorescence spectra of crude-oil extracted asphaltene samples were... 

In this study, it is aimed to compare the efficiency of ultrasonic wave technology on asphaltene flocculation inhibition of crude oils with different American Petroleum Institute (API) gravities. A set of confocal microscopy test is performed and a series of statistical analysis is done. According to the results of this study, there is an optimum radiation time for both crudes at which the viscosity and the flocculation rate of asphaltenic crude oils reduces to its minimum. This optimum appears at later times of radiation for extra heavy oil. Also, it is shown that the rate of changes in the properties measured in this study is sharper for extra heavy crude oil. It could be concluded that... 

The thorough knowledge of the asphaltene aggregation phenomena and pressure/temperature related kinetics is helpful for accurate prediction/control of the asphaltene issues in all facets of petroleum production/processing. However, characterizing the asphaltene aggregation phenomena in live oils at high pressure-high temperature conditions is not well discussed in the available literature. In this work, the asphaltene aggregation phenomena as well as the kinetics of aggregation at different levels of pressure and temperature are investigated in light and heavy live oils using high pressure microscope. The results are presented and discussed in terms of asphaltene onset pressure, aggregates... 

The effect of electrostatic field on the aggregation rate and aggregate size of asphaltene particles precipitated from three different crude oil samples suspended in a mixture of toluene and n-heptane (a model oil) was investigated. An electrode-embedded glass micro-model utilizing a high-voltage direct current power supply was utilized in this study. The asphaltene particle size and the rate of aggregation under the electric field were monitored using a high-resolution optical microscope and the average aggregate size for asphaltene particles was estimated using image processing software. To investigate the effects of structural parameters on asphaltene aggregation rate, aggregate size and... 

In this work, high-pressure microscopy technique was used to measure the size and fractal dimension of asphaltene aggregates formed in different live oil samples at elevated pressures and temperatures. It was found that the asphaltene aggregates in live oil samples are irregular fractal-like structures with pressure−temperature-dependent fractal dimensions. By monitoring the variation of the fractal dimension and size of the asphaltene aggregates with pressure and temperature, the mechanisms responsible for asphaltene aggregation process at elevated pressures and temperatures can be well predicted. The range of fractal dimension of asphaltene aggregates in live oils is similar to that... 

This research aims to propose a thermodynamic model for predicting asphaltene precipitation upon diluting a crude oil with a paraffinic solvent. To this end, a thorough mathematical formulation was carried out to derive a novel micellization model based on the associative properties of asphaltenic compounds. It was assumed that asphaltenes exist in the oil both as monomeric molecules and aggregated cores; with stabilization latter by attachment of resin on its periphery. The aggregation equilibrium was established by taking into account asphaltene's lyophobic tendency, heat of resin adsorption, and interfacial tension between micelle and oil media which is the main driving factor... 

This work concerns observing the pressure as well as CO2 mole percentage effects on asphaltene molecular weight distributions at reservoir conditions. A high-pressure, high-temperature asphaltene measurement setup was applied, and the amount of precipitated asphaltene at different pressures as well as CO2 mole percentage in an Iranian heavy crude oil was measured. Moreover, the asphaltene molecular weight distributions during titration of crude oil with different n-alkanes were investigated. The gel permeation chromatography (GPC) apparatus was used for characterization of asphaltene molecular weight under different conditions. It has been observed that some thermodynamic changes such as... 

As expounded, the precipitation and deposition of asphaltene particles in pipelines has been proved to be the most challenging flow assurance problem due to its unknown and complex behaviors. In this work, a new multicomponent, multiphase and dynamic tool was developed to model the aggregation and deposition of asphaltene particles in a bulk medium. The multiphase and dynamic asphaltene deposition tool, shortened as MAD-ADEPT is, in fact, a modified version of the previously developed ADEPT. The new tool was developed to make the asphaltene deposition and aggregation concepts in oil production wells more predictable. To tackle the complexity of the asphaltene problem, a bespoke algorithm was...