Effect of surface acidity and basicity of aluminas on asphaltene adsorption and oxidation

This study investigates the effect of surface acidity and basicity of aluminas on asphaltene adsorption followed by air oxidation. Equilibrium batch adsorption experiments were conducted at 25°C with solutions of asphaltenes in toluene at concentrations ranging from 100 to 3000 g/L using three conventional alumina adsorbents with different surface acidity. Data were found to better fit to the Freundlich isotherm model showing a multilayer adsorption. Results showed that asphaltene adsorption is strongly affected by the surface acidity, and the adsorption capacities of asphaltenes onto the three aluminas followed the order acidic>basic and neutral. Asphaltenes adsorbed over aluminas were subjected to oxidation in air up to 600°C in a thermogravimetric analyzer to study the catalytic effect of aluminas with different surface acidity. A correlation was found between Freundlich affinity constant (1/n) and the catalytic activity. Basic alumina that has the lowest 1/n value, depicting strongest interactions, has the highest catalytic activity, followed by neutral and acidic aluminas, respectively.