Fundamentals of Asphaltene Precipitation and Deposition

The asphaltene fraction of crude oil contains the highest molecular weight and densest components in petroleum. Asphaltenes are known to cause numerous complications throughout petroleum industry, including production, transportation, and refining. When asphaltenes precipitate from the crude oil to form a solid phase, they can plug pores in oil reservoirs, deposit onto production wellbores and foul heat exchangers in refineries. Despite over a century of research, the properties and behavior of the asphaltene fraction of crude oil remains a topic of intense study and debate. This talk will provide an introduction to the properties of asphaltenes and the modern tools that are used to study their phase behavior and transport characteristics, including aggregation and deposition. A review of both modeling and experimental studies will be discussed with the goal of providing a general background about previous work and new opportunities available to study asphaltenes and their impact on the petroleum industry.