Upgrading Iranian petroleum sludge using polymers

Abstract One of the most valuable wastes of the oil industry is oil sludge, found at oil wells, oil pipelines and refineries, and stored in storage units. Oil sludge has many similarities with heavy oil components. This study evaluates the use of oil sludge from the Iranian Oil Pipelines and Telecommunication Company for the manufacture of asphalt. The approximate structure of the oil sludge was analyzed and compared with the structure of conventional bitumen for road construction. Marshall asphalt samples were analyzed according to the American Society for Testing and Materials D1559 0–5–7.5–10–12.5 standard using 15% oil sludge with bitumen and aggregate. To study the physical characteristics of samples of Marshall asphalt, two important tests were performed (1) to determine the pressure resistance, and (2) the relative deformation of examples of all samples. The results showed that asphalt resistance is increased using 25–50% sulfur and 2–7% butadiene styrene polymer. Therefore, Marshall asphalt samples with 30% sulfur were prepared with bitumen and oil sludge. Fifty percent oil sludge in bitumen and a 2% polymer and 15% oil sludge mix with bitumen gave the best results. These mixtures are economically viable

Thermodynamic modeling of wax precipitation in crude oil based on PC-saft model

Wax precipitation may occur in production or transportation of crude oil form field which is a serious problem in petroleum industry. Flow assurance issues concerning wax precipitation make it necessary to develop a precise thermodynamic model to predict the wax appearance temperature and amount of precipitation at different conditions. In this work a new procedure has been proposed to characterize crude oil based on the SARA test considering the wax and asphaltene as single pseudo components. Two scenarios have been chosen for the survey of the crude oil characterization, with and without asphaltene pseudo component. Also, in this work, the Perturbed Chain form of the Statistical Associating Fluid Theory, PC-SAFT, has been developed to evaluate its ability for modeling of wax precipitation prediction. It is demonstrated that the developed PC-SAFT model can correlate the wax precipitation amount better than basic models (multiple solid and solid solution) typically used in the industry. The results obtained with the proposed model show a remarkable matching with the experimental data for wax precipitation values. The obtained results are very promising in providing better approach to model wax precipitation.Papers presented to the 12th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Costa de Sol, Spain on 11-13 July 2016

Experimental Study and Mathematical Modeling of Asphaltene Deposition Mechanism in Core Samples

In this work, experimental studies were conducted to determine the effect of asphaltene deposition on the permeability reduction and porosity reduction of carbonate, sandstone and dolomite rock samples using an Iranian bottom hole live oil sample which is close to reservoir conditions, whereas in the majority of previous work, a mixture of recombined oil (a mixture of dead oil and associated gas) was injected into a core sample which is far from reservoir conditions. The effect of the oil injection rate on asphaltene deposition and permeability reduction was studied. The experimental results showed that an increase in the oil injection flow rate can result in an increase in asphaltene deposition and permeability reduction. Also, it can be observed that at lower injection flow rates, a monotonic decrease in permeability of the rock samples can be attained upon increasing the injection flow rate, while at higher injection rates, after a decrease in rock permeability, an increasing trend is observed before a steady-state condition can be reached. The experimental results also showed that the rock type can affect the amount of asphaltene deposition, and the asphaltene deposition has different mechanisms in sandstone and carbonate core samples. It can be seen that the adsorption and plugging mechanisms have a more important role in asphaltene deposition in carbonate core samples than sandstone core samples. From the results, it can be observed that the pore volumes of the injected crude oil are higher for sandstone cores compared with the carbonate cores. Also, it can be inferred that three depositional types may take place during the crude oil injection, i.e., continuous deposition for low-permeability cores, slow, steady plugging for high-permeability cores and steady deposition for medium-permeability cores. It can be seen from the experimental results that damage to the core samples was found to increase when the production pressures were increased. The experimental results show that the amount of remaining asphaltene in carbonate core samples is higher than those in sandstone core samples. Also, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) micrographs of carbonate core samples showed the formation of large clusters of asphaltene in comparison with sandstone core samples during natural depletion. It can be seen from the modeling results that the proposed model based on the multilayer adsorption equilibrium mechanism and four material balance equations is more accurate than those obtained from the monolayer adsorption equilibrium adsorption mechanism and two material balance equations, and is in agreement with the experimental data of natural depletion reported in this work and with those reported in the literature

Experimental Study and Mathematical Modeling of Asphaltene Deposition Mechanism in Core Samples

In this work, experimental studies were conducted to determine the effect of asphaltene deposition on the permeability reduction and porosity reduction of carbonate, sandstone and dolomite rock samples using an Iranian bottom hole live oil sample which is close to reservoir conditions, whereas in the majority of previous work, a mixture of recombined oil (a mixture of dead oil and associated gas) was injected into a core sample which is far from reservoir conditions. The effect of the oil injection rate on asphaltene deposition and permeability reduction was studied. The experimental results showed that an increase in the oil injection flow rate can result in an increase in asphaltene deposition and permeability reduction. Also, it can be observed that at lower injection flow rates, a monotonic decrease in permeability of the rock samples can be attained upon increasing the injection flow rate, while at higher injection rates, after a decrease in rock permeability, an increasing trend is observed before a steady-state condition can be reached. The experimental results also showed that the rock type can affect the amount of asphaltene deposition, and the asphaltene deposition has different mechanisms in sandstone and carbonate core samples. It can be seen that the adsorption and plugging mechanisms have a more important role in asphaltene deposition in carbonate core samples than sandstone core samples. From the results, it can be observed that the pore volumes of the injected crude oil are higher for sandstone cores compared with the carbonate cores. Also, it can be inferred that three depositional types may take place during the crude oil injection, i.e., continuous deposition for low-permeability cores, slow, steady plugging for high-permeability cores and steady deposition for medium-permeability cores. It can be seen from the experimental results that damage to the core samples was found to increase when the production pressures were increased. The experimental results show that the amount of remaining asphaltene in carbonate core samples is higher than those in sandstone core samples. Also, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) micrographs of carbonate core samples showed the formation of large clusters of asphaltene in comparison with sandstone core samples during natural depletion. It can be seen from the modeling results that the proposed model based on the multilayer adsorption equilibrium mechanism and four material balance equations is more accurate than those obtained from the monolayer adsorption equilibrium adsorption mechanism and two material balance equations, and is in agreement with the experimental data of natural depletion reported in this work and with those reported in the literature

Experimental Study and Mathematical Modeling of Asphaltene Deposition Mechanism in Core Samples

In this work, experimental studies were conducted to determine the effect of asphaltene deposition on the permeability reduction and porosity reduction of carbonate, sandstone and dolomite rock samples using an Iranian bottom hole live oil sample which is close to reservoir conditions, whereas in the majority of previous work, a mixture of recombined oil (a mixture of dead oil and associated gas) was injected into a core sample which is far from reservoir conditions. The effect of the oil injection rate on asphaltene deposition and permeability reduction was studied. The experimental results showed that an increase in the oil injection flow rate can result in an increase in asphaltene deposition and permeability reduction. Also, it can be observed that at lower injection flow rates, a monotonic decrease in permeability of the rock samples can be attained upon increasing the injection flow rate, while at higher injection rates, after a decrease in rock permeability, an increasing trend is observed before a steady-state condition can be reached. The experimental results also showed that the rock type can affect the amount of asphaltene deposition, and the asphaltene deposition has different mechanisms in sandstone and carbonate core samples. It can be seen that the adsorption and plugging mechanisms have a more important role in asphaltene deposition in carbonate core samples than sandstone core samples. From the results, it can be observed that the pore volumes of the injected crude oil are higher for sandstone cores compared with the carbonate cores. Also, it can be inferred that three depositional types may take place during the crude oil injection, i.e., continuous deposition for low-permeability cores, slow, steady plugging for high-permeability cores and steady deposition for medium-permeability cores. It can be seen from the experimental results that damage to the core samples was found to increase when the production pressures were increased. The experimental results show that the amount of remaining asphaltene in carbonate core samples is higher than those in sandstone core samples. Also, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) micrographs of carbonate core samples showed the formation of large clusters of asphaltene in comparison with sandstone core samples during natural depletion. It can be seen from the modeling results that the proposed model based on the multilayer adsorption equilibrium mechanism and four material balance equations is more accurate than those obtained from the monolayer adsorption equilibrium adsorption mechanism and two material balance equations, and is in agreement with the experimental data of natural depletion reported in this work and with those reported in the literature