Asphaltene Precipitation, Experimental and PC-SAFT Modeling

Asphaltenes are the heaviest and most polarizable fractions of crude oils. As a result, they have a high tendency to aggregate and flocculate under certain conditions. Asphaltene precipitation and subsequent deposition in production tubing and topside facilities present significant cost penalties to crude oil production. Therefore, it is highly desirable to predict their phase behavior to preventing or delaying deposition. One of the most common approaches for prediction of asphaltene precipitation is using the thermodynamic models. In this study PC-SAFT equation of state is used to predict asphaltene precipitation in Iranian dead oil sample. Asphaltene content is obtained by filtration method of the oil samples diluted with specific concentrations of different normal alkanes. Also Liquid-Liquid equilibrium is used for characterization of oil sample into one heavy phase (asphaltene) and another light phase (saturates, aromatics, and resin). Calculations show that the developed model is highly sensitive to interaction parameter between oil fractions. Prediction results were improved due to using Chueh- Prausnitz equation. The results indicate good potential of PC-SAFT EOS in the prediction of asphaltene precipitation in crude oil sample diluted with different normal alkanes. The model error is less than 11% and the model precision is increased by reducing the number of normal alkane's carbons

کلیدواژه ها:

Asphaltene ، precipitation ، PC-SAFT Eos ، Crude oil ، Normal Alkane