Experimental Calculation of Asphaltene Critical Properties in Crude Oil Reservoir Systems

High molecular weight (HMW) hydrocarbons (>C40) and asphaltenes are important constituents of petroleum and can cause problems related to crystallization and deposition of asphaltene. In this paper introduces an extension of cubic equation of state (Peng- Robinson EOS) to describe asphaltene-toluene mixture vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) and characterize the pure asphaltene and the critical properties of asphaltene are adjusted (table (4)). Our experimental data (table (1)) in this study were used to examine the proposed procedure measured from the Iranian crude oil reservoir. We determined the critical properties of asphaltene for this EOS with using the two phase vapor-liquid equilibrium calculation. The test results showed that the proposed procedure is adequate for predicting the asphaltene precipitation data measured.

Keywords:

Asphaltene precipitation , Molecular weight distribution