Investigations into Asphaltene Deposition, Stability, and Structure.

TL;DRAbstract

Asphaltenes are known to cause a number of petroleum production, transportation and processing concerns. The overarching goal of this body of work was to elucidate the fundamental structure and behavior of asphaltenes for ultimate application in a number of different fields. In this dissertation, asphaltenes were studied over length scales ranging from the macro to the micro scale. The dissertation begins by reporting the results of a study on the destabilization and deposition of asphaltenes using a capillary flow apparatus. Asphaltenes were destabilized by adding a precipitant to crude oil, and deposition was detected by an increase in the differential pressure across a capillary. These experiments revealed that the asphaltene deposition rate decreases continuously with decreasing precipitant concentration and no critical onset concentrations were observed. In addition, it was observed that sub-micrometer sized asphaltenes dominate the deposition process and the deposition rate is pr

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