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Understanding Asphaltene Aggregation and Precipitation Through Theoretical and Computational Studies

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New Frontiers in Oil and Gas Exploration

Abstract

Asphaltenes are known to cause serious problems during the processing of petroleum compounds due to their aggregation and precipitation behaviors. Despite the significant amount of experimental works that have been performed, large debates still exist in literature. Parallel with experimental work, great efforts have been spent from theoretical and computational perspectives to predict asphaltene behaviors under given conditions, to provide atomic/molecular information on their aggregation as well as precipitation, and to further shed lights on existing debates. This chapter presents a detailed review of previous theoretical and computational works on asphaltene aggregation and precipitation. Theoretical models developed, systems simulated, and the key findings are summarized; and discrepancies among those works are highlighted.

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Abbreviations

CCC:

Critical cluster concentration

CMC:

Critical micelle concentration

CNAC:

Critical nanoaggregation concentration

CPA-EoS:

Cubic-Plus-Association EoS

EoS:

Equation of state

L2MS:

Laser desorption laser ionization mass spectrometry

MD:

Molecular dynamics

MM:

Molecular mechanics

MW:

Molecular weight

NMR:

Nuclear magnetic resonance

PA:

Polyaromatic

PC-SAFT EoS:

Perturbed-chain SAFT-EoS

PME:

Potential of mean force

PR-EoS:

Peng-Robinson EoS

QM:

Quantum mechanics

RICO:

Ruthenium-ion-catalyzed oxidation

SAFT EoS:

Statistical Associating Fluid Theory EoS

SAFT-VR EoS:

SAFT-EoS for potentials of variable range

SARA:

Saturate aromatic, resin, and asphaltene sc-CO2 supercritical carbon dioxide

XANES:

X-ray absorption near-edge structure

XPS:

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2G8

    Cuiying Jian & Tian Tang

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  1. Cuiying Jian
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  2. Tian Tang
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Correspondence to Tian Tang .

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  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, State University of New York at Binghamton Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton, New York, USA

    Congrui Jin

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Gianluca Cusatis

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Jian, C., Tang, T. (2016). Understanding Asphaltene Aggregation and Precipitation Through Theoretical and Computational Studies. In: Jin, C., Cusatis, G. (eds) New Frontiers in Oil and Gas Exploration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40124-9_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40124-9_1

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