Investigation of structural characteristics of different asphaltene deposits after surface wetting at high presssure

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of asphaltene construction on wettability and topography alteration of a homogeneous surface due to precipitation process . The observedvariation of the surface topography based on AFM image analysis could be c onsidered as the consequence of different asphaltene sources. Another evidence to highlight th e importance of asphaltene structure was given through wettability alteration. Therefore, the struc ture of different asphaltene sources was examined. The effect of asphaltene structure s more mark ed for asphaltene precipitation at higher pressure. Results show that asphaltene particles of high complexity and with larger poly-aromatic rings tend to be detached easier at higher pressure than th ose with smaller poly-aromatic rings.

Keywords:

precipitation , poly-aromatic rings , surface roughness , asphaltene , structure