Investigation of Asphaltene Aggregate Size Distribution Under Aggregation and Breakage Phenomena Using Monte Carlo Simulation

In this article, the aggregation and breakage processes are simulated through Monte Carlo method for asphaltene aggregates under shear-induced petroleum mixtures. The simulation results are verified by the aggregate size distributions of two types of asphaltenes having different fractal dimensions extracted from Iranian crude oil types. The obtained aggregate size distributions are affected by shear rate, toluene to heptane ratios and the oil type. The dynamic evolution of asphaltene aggregates shows an ascendant trend with time until they reach a maximum average diameter and then descent to a steady-state size. The asphaltene fractal dimension affects the aggregation process.     

Generation of Asphaltene Deposition Envelope Using Artificial Neural Network

The usefulness of the asphaltene deposition envelope (ADE) is that no asphaltene flocculation occurs at conditions outside the envelope. Since artificial neural network (ANN) is best at identifying patterns or trends in data, it is well suited for prediction or forecasting needs. ANN is also capable of addressing case specific problems that may be encountered in the field such as deposition of asphaltene. In this article, the high pressure, high temperature setup used to perform pressure depletion experiments at three different temperatures on one the Iranian live oils and the ADE generated using ANN.     

Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Different Parameters on the Rate of Asphaltene Deposition in Laminar Flow and Its Prediction Using Heat Transfer Approach

In this study, asphaltene deposition from crude oil on the pipe surface has been studied experimentally using a novel designed test loop. Washing technique is used to quantitatively measure the rate of asphaltene deposition during laminar flow in the steel pipe. The effects of oil velocity, asphaltene content, and surface temperature on the thickness of asphaltene deposition are investigated. The results show that the asphaltene deposition rate increases with increasing surface temperature, results in asphaltene content reduction of the flowing crude oil. As the oil velocity increases, less deposition was noticed on the surface of the pipe. Besides, thermal approach was applied to the experimental procedure which shows good agreements between the predicted thickness and the measured value from the test loop.     

Investigation of Oil–Asphaltene Slurry Rheological Behavior

The presence of asphaltene means additional difficulties related to transport and processing due to the increased crude oil viscosity caused by the asphaltene. For a better knowledge of the flow properties of asphaltene containing crude oils, it is necessary to understand how asphaltene affects the rheological properties. The aim of this article is to provide information on such rheological properties of oil–asphaltene slurry systems. The results of rheological experiments show that the non-Newtonian flow curves can be approximated by the Bingham plastic model to determine the apparent viscosity and the yield stress as a function of asphaltene concentration and temperature. An explanation is also provided for the observed behavior.     

Evaluation of Asphaltene Inhibitors Effect on Aggregation Coupled Sedimentation Process

The aggregation coupled sedimentation of asphaltene particles in toluene and heptanes mixture are investigated in the presence of two asphaltene inhibitors including, dodecyle resorcinol (DR) and hazelnut oil. An image processing technique is adopted in the three sections in a settling column setup. The aggregation and sedimentation phenomena are evaluated through a time-driven Monte Carlo (MC) model. The results are in good agreement with the obtained experimental results. The results indicate that in controlling asphaltene sedimentation DR is more effective. The results also revealed that the hazelnut oil has a capacity to inhibit asphaltene sedimentation at high concentration.     

19F Dynamic Nuclear Polarization and SEM in Suspensions Consisting of Fluorobenzene Derivatives and Asphaltene Extracted from MC-800 Liquid Asphalt

A variety of analytical techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy and ¹⁹F dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) methods, are applied to characterize asphaltene extracted from MC-800 liquid asphalt in fluorobenzene derivatives at 1.53 mT and at room temperature. Different solvents show variable affinities for the asphaltene surface. The low field EPR spectrum of the asphaltene/hexafluorobenzene sample was recorded. The DNP parameters were determined. Additionally, the interactions between the nuclei of the solvent and the electrons delocalized on the asphaltene are interpreted. Not only dipolar but also scalar interactions between the nuclear spin and the electron spin were found.     

Smart Determination of Difference Index for Asphaltene Stability Evaluation

Precipitation and deposition of asphaltene during different stages of petroleum production is recognized as problematic in oil industry because of the increase in production cost and the inhibition of a consistent flow of crude oil in different medium. Numerous correlations have been developed to determine asphaltene stability in crude oil. In this study, a novel ONN method was used to estimate difference index from SARA fraction data for rapid, accurate, and cost-effective determination of asphaltene stability. Neural networks are highly in danger of trapping in local minima. To eliminate this flaw, a hybrid genetic algorithm-pattern search technique was used instead of common back-propagation algorithm for training the employed neural network. A comparison between neural network and optimized neural network indicated superiority of optimized neural network.      

Experimental Study of Microscopic Displacement Efficiency of Polymer Microspheres Using Low-Field NMR

For reservoirs in high water cut exploitation period, profile control and water plugging is one of the important ways to improve oil recovery. Cores with different permeability were flooded to analyze the displacement results and displacement mechanisms for different grain size of polymer microspheres. Fluid distribution in cores was measured by NMR spectroscopy after water flooding, polymer microspheres flooding, and subsequent water flooding. The range of pore sizes from which oil was swept out was also calculated. The results showed that microspheres can effectively sweep remaining oil in different pore size of the cores. The suitability of different grain size of polymer microspheres with cores is different, microspheres with micron size are suitable for high-permeability cores, and microspheres with nanometer size are suitable for low-permeability cores.     

Experimental Evaluation of the Inhibitors Performance on the Kinetics of Asphaltene Flocculation

The kinetics of asphaltene flocculation are studied on two types of Iranian crude oil. Kinetic studies are conducted by applying near infrared spectrophotometry. The presence of inhibitors in the sample reduces the amount of light absorption of crude oil sample. The effect of these inhibitors according to the initial changes in the light absorption of crude oil samples is studied. The obtained results indicate that the asphaltenes are the highest stabilized in presence of the vegetable oil types (hazelnut and walnut) and chemical compound (4-dodecylresorcinol).     

Micron and Submicron-Sized Whey Protein–Pectin Aggregates Generated Via Alkali-Catalyzed Chemical Crosslinking

Citric acid was used to crosslink whey proteins and sugar beet pectin at 50°C with the aid of sodium hydroxide as catalyst. The effects of the pH of biopolymers mixed solution and the duration of the crosslinking process on various characteristics of generated particles were studied. Although the majority of the generated aggregates were of submicron size, particles as small as 59 nm were present. The crosslinking duration did not affect the size of aggregates; however, the samples crosslinked at pH 4.2 were greater than those obtained at pH 7.0. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed that aggregates were not uniformly shaped; differential scanning calorimetry indicated that conjugate whey protein–pectin aggregates had greater thermal stabilities than their parent individual biopolymers. The occurrence of crosslinkages was confirmed by the results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.     

Prediction of Crude Oil Asphaltene Precipitation Using Support Vector Regression

Precipitation and deposition of asphaltene during different recovery processes is an important issue in oil industry which causes considerable increase in production cost as well as negatively impacting in production rate. In this study, support vector regression as a novel computer learning algorithm was utilized to estimate the amount asphaltene precipitation from experimental titration data. Also, the result of support vector regression modeling was compared with the artificial neural network model and the scaling equation. Results show acceptable agreement with experimental data and also more accurate prediction in comparison to artificial neural network and scaling equation.      

Developing Thermodynamic Micellization Approach to Model Asphaltene Precipitation Behavior

An little known yet significant issue in petroleum production processes in petroleum reservoirs is asphaltene precipitation/deposition. Asphaltene has not only a fuzzy and vague nature but it also can cause detrimental problems like reservoir blockage and, as a result, low oil recovery. To tackle this issue, many researchers have attempted to monitor asphaltene behavior versus thermodynamic conditions. A thermodynamic micellization approach is implemented in this work to describe asphaltene precipitation behavior for two sample fluids from Iranian reservoirs. First, the basic structures of the addressed approach and different contributions to Gibbs free energy of micellization proposed by Victorov and Firoozabadi (VF) are demonstrated. Second, a detailed sensitivity analysis with respect to the model parameters is performed by utilizing a new calculation strategy. Finally, a comparison between the predicted precipitation curve and the experimental one is illustrated; moreover, comparing our results with those reported by Victorov proves the superiority of the new strategy over the conventional one. The significance of this study shows the effect of each micellization parameter on the asphaltene precipitation behavior curve and illustrates the ability of the micellization approach evolved by VF in monitoring the effect of pressure on asphaltene precipitation using the new calculation procedure. Outcomes from this study could couple with commercial reservoir simulation software to improve precision and integrity for designing robust and effective production units.     

Preparation and Characterization of Polymeric Nanocapsules Produced by in Situ Polymerization From Nanoemulsions Produced by Direct Emulsification

Polymeric nanoparticles constitute an important drug delivery system with controlled release profile. This article describes a new way to produce polymeric nanocapsules using a vegetable oil nanoemulsion as template. The process occurs in two steps: First, a nanoemulsion was obtained with a low-energy method based on phase inversion emulsification, using 2-ethylhexyl acrylate as lipophilic monomer. The in situ polymerization of the nanoemulsion droplets is induced by the addition of polymerization catalyzers. The mean size of the polymeric nanoparticles was evaluated by photon correlation spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. Both techniques showed the formation of polymeric nanocapsules with a mean particle size less than 300 nm.     

Mathematical Model of Foam Flowing Characteristics by Snap-Off Mechanisms at Steady State in Porous Media

Flow characteristics and regeneration processes of foams were influenced by lamella properties and pore-throat structure in porous media. In this article, porous media was simplified as a bunch of constricted capillary tubes according to grain size, pore-throat radius, and immobile water saturation in porous media. Based on an analysis of forces upon liquid lamella, a mathematical model of foam migration and regeneration at steady state was established according to the mass conservation law and the momentum conservation law in porous media. The model could be used to calculate some important parameters in porous media, such as pressure distribution, shearing stress, lamella morphology, liquid-layer thickness, regeneration bubble size, etc. A series of flow experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of liquid properties and pore-throat structure on flow characteristics and resistance behavior of foams in porous media. The experimental results showed that pressure distribution monotonously decreased along porous media. The theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental results. Foam structure, that is, foam quality was an important factor upon foam resistance behavior in porous media. The strongest resistance ability of foams was achieved at foam quality of 85% in porous media.      

Similarities and Differences of Low Salinity Polymer and Low Salinity LPS (Linked Polymer Solutions) for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Linked polymer solution (LPS) is nano-size particles made of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) cross-linked with aluminum citrate. The propagation of LPS has been compared to non-cross-linked polymers at low brine salinity condition. The possible differences in properties and potentials for oil recovery have been investigated using water-wet and intermediate-wet cores. The target oil for polymer flooding (PF) is assumed to be the portion of the reservoir that has been bypassed by water during waterflooding and not the residual oil saturation in flooded zones. Our recent studies have shown that a positive synergy can be obtained by combining low salinity and PF. It has been claimed in the literature that cross-linking polymer such as colloidal dispersion gels (colloidal dispersion gels (CDG), micron-size aggregates) or LPS (nano-size particles) would extend the application of polymers to also include change in residual oil saturation. The results of this study indicated higher pressure buildup when low salinity LPS was propagated through brine saturated cores compared to low salinity polymer solution. The pressure buildup was even stronger for high salinity LPS injection. In two phase flow experiments, both polymer and LPS under low salinity condition, showed approximately similar propagation and oil recovery potential when injected into water-wet and intermediate-wet cores.     

Fuzzy Assessment of Asphaltene Stability in Crude Oils

Knowledge about stability of asphaltene, determined by difference index, is of significant interest because of the many problems associated with asphaltene precipitation. This study followed two parallel fuzzy strategies for estimating refractive index (RI) of crude oil and refractive index of crude oil at onset of asphaltene precipitation (PRI) from Sara fraction data. Predicted RI and PRI were then utilized for easy and fast diagnosis of asphaltene stability by dint of calculating difference index (or ΔRI = RI – PRI). The experimental data reported in the literature have been used for model developing and checking. An acceptable agreement between fuzzy predicted values and experimental data confirmed the power of fuzzy logic technique in prediction of RI, PRI, and consequent ΔRI. In this study, ΔRI was not predicted directly mainly for two reasons. First, RI and PRI contain invaluable information themselves and predicting them fulfills the need for these information when they are desired. Second, dividing the problem into two simpler parts and solving them separately enhances the terminal accuracy of prediction. Although the regression accuracy for ΔRI was not completely satisfied, the classification accuracy for discriminating between stable and unstable situations was 100%.      

Application of CO2-Triggered Switchable Surfactants to Form Emulsion with Xinjiang Heavy Oil

Owing to the high acid number of Xinjiang heavy oil and incomplete demulsification after pipelining, this article discusses the application of CO₂-triggered switchable surfactants to the emulsified transport of several Xinjiang heavy oils in the pipeline. Results show that CO₂-triggered switchable surfactants promote the formation and stabilization of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion in the absence of CO₂ as a base. The property parameters of heavy oils fundamentally influence the indigenous emulsifying agents. The emulsion is stable when the heavy oil has a high acid number and low asphaltene content, which is also affected by some physical factors.     

Influence of Hydrophobically Associating Polyacrylamide on Dispersion Property of Water-Soluble Phenol-For-maldehyde Resin

To improve dispersion stability of water soluble phenol-fomaldehyde resin (PFR) in relatively low salinity water, the effect of hydrophobically associating polymer (HAP) on the dispersion property of PFR in NaCl solution was studied by the measurement of the size and zeta potential of PFR, HAP, and PFR/HAP molecule aggregates in NaCl solution, and the turbidity of PFR and PFR/HAP dispersions. The results show that due to the hydrophobically group on HAP molecule has similar structure as molecular structure of PFR and stronger hydrophobically association of HAP molecules in NaCl solution, HAP, and PFR molecules can form complex molecule aggregates together. The formation of the complex molecule aggregates enhanced the stability of PFR dispersion in NaCl solution.