AR2016

Department of Chemical Engineering

Annual Report 2015

JIP ASPHALTENES: IMPROVED MECHANISMS OF

ASPHALTENE DEPOSITION, PRECIPITATION AND

FOULING TO MINIMIZE IRREGULARITIES IN

PRODUCTION AND TRANSPORT (NFR

PETROMAKS 2014 – 2017)

Asphaltenes represent heavy polar colloidal fraction in

crude oils. Due to pressure variation, processing and

production conditions of different crude oils,

asphaltenes can precipitate and form organic deposits in

oil reservoirs, in wells and on equipment and pipe walls

and induce fouling in general. These deposits can cause

serious and costly irregularities in production and

transport of oil. Several models have been proposed to

explain these irregularities but they all suffer from

inaccurate asphaltene chemistry. It is by now evident

that in order to fully understand and account for the

above-mentioned phenomena, the effect of the

polydisperse functionality of the asphaltenes must be

understood.

In order to follow up the objective, the project will

combine small scale tests both at atmospheric and

elevated pressures, modelling and capillary loop tests.

Finally based on the accumulated knowledge, chemical

modifications together with inhibitors will be developed

in order to minimize the molecular affinity to pipe

surfaces and their interactions in solution.

This project is a collaborative effort between the

Ugelstad laboratory, University of Alberta (Canada),

University of Pau (France), University of Paraná (Curitiba,

Brazil) and several industrial partners.

Figure: Schematic of the coaxial capillary system used for

desorption studies experiments. A droplet (1) of constant

volume is formed via an outer capillary (2) and is let to

equilibrate for a fixed time. The predetermined volume of

solvent of chemical species is pumped via an inner

capillary (3) at a given rate. The interfacial tension is

continuously measured through all steps.

A COMBINED SURFACE -COLLOID CHEMICAL AND

ROCK-FLUID INTERACTION APPROACH TOWARDS

MORE EFFICIENT ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY

STRATEGIES (NFR PETROMAKS, 2012 – 2015)

The objective of the project is to provide essential

knowledge of how surfactants can improve low salinity

water flooding processes by also considering indigenous

crude oil components. The studies range from molecular

level to fluid-rock interaction and dynamic displacement

studies.

The project is a collaborative effort between Ugelstad

Laboratory, Department of Petroleum Engineering and

SINTEF Petroleum Research.

Figure: Phase behaviour of IFT of crude oil and solution

of surfactant 0.068 and 0.410 mol/L NaCl (increasing

form left to right). All IFT values are given in units of 10-

6 N/m.

FUNCTIONALIZED NANOPARTICLES TO IMPROVE

CRUDE OIL QUALITY (VISTA FUNDING 2015-

2017)

The deposition of metal naphthenates can cause

operational and environmental problems during crude

oil production and processing. The main goal of this

project is to establish new methods for both preventing

formation and facilitating removal of naphthenic acids

responsible for formation of the metal naphthenates by

using magnetic nanoparticles. The newly developed

methods will be based on the application of magnetic