Asphaltenes adsorption on the metal oxide nanoparticles and their oxidation towards insitu combustion by nanotechnology

The effects of transition metal oxides nanoparticles on the oxidation of asphaltenes adsorbed onto the metal oxidessurfaces were studied. The NiXCu1-XO nanoparticles were synthesized with a co-precipitation method and characterizedwith BET, SEM and XRD techniques. Extracted solid asphaltenes from heavy oil samples dissolved in toluene andadsorbed on the surfaces nanoparticles and fumed silica. The asphaltenes adsorption capacity (in mg/g) of thenanoparticles decreases in the order of NiO > Ni0.75Cu0.25O > Ni0.5Cu0.5O > Ni0.25Cu0.75O > CuO > silica. The off gasesof temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) of the adsorbed asphaltenes were analyzed by an on-line FTIR equippedwith a gas cell. The TPO profiles of the asphaltenes, either virgin or adsorbed onto the surfaces, exhibit both high andlow temperature peaks and both peaks are transferred to lower temperatures by about 150-200 ºC in the catalytic oxidationof asphaltene by the metal oxides.

کلیدواژه ها:

Asphaltene ، Oxidation ، Metal oxide nanoparticles ، in situ upgrading