A New Scaling Equation to determine the effect of the temperature, molecular weight of n-alkane precipitants and solvent to oil ratio on asphaltene deposition for an Iranian Oil Reservoir

Asphaltene flocculation, precipitation and deposition is a considerable problem in the oil industry especially within reservoir, in the production facilities and in general, in both upstream and downstream petroleum operations. The major goals of this research were to investigate the effect of different factors such as temperature, solvent/oil ratio, and molecular weight of solvent on the asphaltene deposition for an Iranian oil reservoir. The previous works are discussed and a new modified temperature–dependent scaling equation is introduced. The results showed that all experimental data for scaling equation and new temperature–dependent scaling equation collapsed onto a same curve. The scaling representation of the data also implies a universal property for the onset of precipitation.

Keywords:

Asphaltene , Precipitation , Deposition , Scaling equation , Temperature , Molecular weights ,