EVALUATION OF THE PRECIPITATION BEHAVIOR OF ASPHALTENES OBTAINED BY PRESSURE DROP AND n-ALKANES

• Grant number: 25/08552-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Physical-Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Paulo de Tarso Vieira e Rosa
• Grantee: Grace Kelly Mizuno Flozino
• Host Institution: Centro de Estudos de Energia e Petróleo (CEPETRO). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Company: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica (FEM)
• Associated research grant: 17/15736-3 - Engineering Research Centre in Reservoir and Production Management, AP.PCPE

Abstract

Asphaltenes comprise petroleum components that are insoluble in aliphatic and soluble in aromatic compounds. In the reservoir, these portions are present both in molecular form and as nanoaggregates. This balance can be disrupted by variations in pressure conditions, temperature, or composition that the oil is subjected to during its production[1] [2]. It is already known that the composition of the asphaltene fraction sampled from pipelines is usually different from asphaltenes extracted from crude oil using light n-alkanes, which reflects on the properties of this fraction[3]. Klein et al.[4] has clearly shown that dead-oil asphaltenes obtained by pressure drop (PVT) may have very different properties in comparison to solvent-extracted asphaltenes of the same crude. Most research is conducted at ambient pressure[5] [6] [7] on benches, using titration with n-alkanes to induce asphaltene precipitation, which can lead to inaccurate conclusions about oil stability. The studies presented by Klein et al. [4] showed that the aromaticity of asphaltenes obtained by pressure drop and solvent precipitation are totally different. The scope of this proposal is to explore different methodologies of precipitation (using nalkanes) of asphaltenes at ambient pressure, in order to obtain asphaltenes with aromaticity, molar mass, and polarity similar to asphaltenes obtained by pressure drop (PVT). This strategy can provide information on what asphaltene precipitation methodologybetter represents field situations and consequently provide information to improve asphaltene deposition models. (AU)