Asphaltene Inhibition and Flow Improvement of Crude Oil with a High Content of Asphaltene and Wax by Polymers Bearing Ultra-Long Side Chain

Xinyuan Li, Shu Lu, Meifei Niu, Ruzhen Cheng, Yanjun Gong and Jun Xu
Additional contact information
Xinyuan Li: College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Shu Lu: Sino Oil King Shine Chemical Co., Ltd., Langfang 065000, China
Meifei Niu: Sino Oil King Shine Chemical Co., Ltd., Langfang 065000, China
Ruzhen Cheng: School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
Yanjun Gong: College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Jun Xu: School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-18

Abstract: A high content of asphaltene and wax in crude oil leads to difficulties in the recovery and transportation of crude oil due to the precipitation of asphaltenes and the deposition of waxes. Comb-like polymers were found to be capable of inhibiting the aggregation of asphaltenes and crystallization of waxes. In this work, comb-like bipolymers of α-olefins/ultra-long chain (C18, C22 and C28) alkyl acrylate were synthesized and characterized by FT-IR and 1 H NMR spectra. The results show that, for a model oil containing asphaltene, the initial precipitation point (IPP) of asphaltene was prolonged by UV, and the asphaltene particle size was reduced after adding the biopolymers, as revealed by dynamitic light scattering (DLS). The bipolymer containing the longer alkyl chain had a better asphaltene inhibition effect. However, DSC and rheological results show that the wax appearance temperature (WAT) of the typical high asphaltene and high wax content of crude oil was obviously reduced by adding bipolymers with shorter alkyl chains. The bipolymer (TDA2024-22) with a mediate alkyl chain (C22) reduced the viscosity and thixotropy of the crude oil by a much larger margin than others. Compared with the previously synthesized bipolymer with phenyl pendant (PDV-A-18), TDA2024-22 exhibited a better performance. Therefore, bipolymers with appropriate alkyl side chains can act as not only the asphaltene inhibitors but also wax inhibitors for high asphaltene and wax content of crude oil, which has great potential applications in the oil fields.

Keywords: high asphaltene and high wax content of crude oil; asphaltene precipitation; wax crystallization; rheology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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