Adsorption of asphaltene from crude oil by applying polythiophene coating on Fe3O4 nanoparticles

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe objective of the present study was to investigate the potential use of applying polythiophene coating on magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles for the enhancement of asphaltene adsorption. Two stages of experimental were conducted. In the first stage, the ability of coated nanoparticles for asphaltene adsorption in synthetic asphaltene-toluene solution was evaluated. The effects of parameters such as nanoparticles concentration, initial concentration of asphaltene, and temperature were studied. In the second stage, the performance of the coated nanoparticles for the adsorption of asphaltene from crude oil was investigated under atmospheric pressure and a pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) apparatus was utilized for simulated reservoir conditions. Fe3O4 and Fe3O4-PT MNPs were synthesized using an effective co-precipitation method. The results of the first-stage tests indicated that the maximum adsorption capacity values for Fe3O4 and Fe3O4-PT MNPs were 0.79 and 1.09 mg m−2, respectively. The optimum value of nanoparticles concentration was approximately determined as 10 g L−1. According to the adsorption isotherms and kinetics, the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order Lagergren models were consistent with the experimental data, respectively. The average adsorption efficiencies for Fe3O4-PT and Fe3O4 MNPs were 78.98 and 65.94%, respectively. The results of the performed experiments on crude oil showed that Fe3O4-PT MNPs could adsorb asphaltenes from crude oil in a similar trend as synthetic asphaltene-toluene solution.