Asphaltene Deposition in Different Depositing Environments: Part 1. Model Oil

Among the asphaltene flow assurance issues, the most major concern because of asphaltene is its potential to deposit in reservoir, well tubing, flow lines, separators, and other systems along production lines causing significant production losses. Hence, the focus of this study is to understand the depositional tendency of asphaltene using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM–D) measurements. The results are presented in two consecutive papers, with this paper (part 1) dealing with model oil systems. The depositing environment is varied by changing the system temperature, asphaltene polydispersity, solvent (asphaltene stability), depositing surface, and flow rate. This paper also discusses the roles of convective, diffusive, and adsorption kinetics on asphaltene deposition by modeling the adsorbed mass before asphaltene precipitation onset. The successive paper (part 2; 10.1021/ef401868d) will deal with real crude oil systems and modeling of the deposited mass after asphaltene precipitation o...