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Solubility of the Least-Soluble Asphaltenes

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Asphaltenes, Heavy Oils, and Petroleomics

Abstract

The key to understanding many asphaltene-related phenomena is a quantitative description of the solubility conditions at which the least-soluble asphaltenes begin to flocculate from a crude oil, often referred to as the onset of flocculation. Models that treat asphaltene flocculation as a liquid–liquid phase separation of large solute molecules dispersed in a solvent composed of much smaller molecules can successfully describe experimental observations in which solubility conditions vary due to changes in pressure and composition. Formation of small, well-dispersed asphaltene aggregates of colloidal dimensions (on the order of nanometers) does not invalidate the thermodynamic approach to modeling asphaltene phase behavior.

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Authors
  1. Jill S. Buckley
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  2. Jianxin Wang
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  3. Jefferson L. Creek
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Schlumberger-Doll Research, 36 Old Quarry Road Ridgefield, Connecticut, 06877, United States

    Oliver C. Mullins

  2. Vanton Research Laboratory, Inc., 7 Olde Creek Place, Lafayette, California, 94549, United States

    Eric Y. Sheu

  3. Schlumberger Oilfield Services, Edmonton, Alberta, T6N 1M9, Canada

    Ahmed Hammami

  4. Chemistry and Biochemistry, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University, 1800 East Paul Dirac Drive, Tallahassee, FL, 32310-4005, United States

    Alan G. Marshall

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Buckley, J.S., Wang, J., Creek, J.L. (2007). Solubility of the Least-Soluble Asphaltenes. In: Mullins, O.C., Sheu, E.Y., Hammami, A., Marshall, A.G. (eds) Asphaltenes, Heavy Oils, and Petroleomics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-68903-6_16

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