Abstract
A high content of asphaltene and wax in crude oil leads to difficulties in the recovery and transportation of crude oil due to the precipitation of asphaltenes and the deposition of waxes. Comb-like polymers were found to be capable of inhibiting the aggregation of asphaltenes and crystallization of waxes. In this work, comb-like bipolymers of α-olefins/ultra-long chain (C18, C22 and C28) alkyl acrylate were synthesized and characterized by FT-IR and 1H NMR spectra. The results show that, for a model oil containing asphaltene, the initial precipitation point (IPP) of asphaltene was prolonged by UV, and the asphaltene particle size was reduced after adding the biopolymers, as revealed by dynamitic light scattering (DLS). The bipolymer containing the longer alkyl chain had a better asphaltene inhibition effect. However, DSC and rheological results show that the wax appearance temperature (WAT) of the typical high asphaltene and high wax content of crude oil was obviously reduced by adding bipolymers with shorter alkyl chains. The bipolymer (TDA2024-22) with a mediate alkyl chain (C22) reduced the viscosity and thixotropy of the crude oil by a much larger margin than others. Compared with the previously synthesized bipolymer with phenyl pendant (PDV-A-18), TDA2024-22 exhibited a better performance. Therefore, bipolymers with appropriate alkyl side chains can act as not only the asphaltene inhibitors but also wax inhibitors for high asphaltene and wax content of crude oil, which has great potential applications in the oil fields.
Highlights
With the decline of conventional oil reserves year by year, the global demand for unconventional crude oils, which often contain large amounts of asphaltene and wax, is increasing [1]
The results show that the comb-like bipolymers with a suitable length of alkyl side chains could disperse the asphaltene, inhibiting asphaltene precipitation, and inhibit the growth of wax crystals, improving the flowing ability of the crude oil, which is better than PDV-A-18
Bipolymers of α-olefins and aliphatic acrylate with ultra-long aliphatic chain (18, 22 and 28) were synthesized, and their chemical structures were confirmed by FT-IR and
Summary
With the decline of conventional oil reserves year by year, the global demand for unconventional crude oils, which often contain large amounts of asphaltene and wax, is increasing [1]. Asphaltene contains a large amount of strong polar groups such as carboxyl groups, amino groups and carbonyl groups. Asphaltene is the most polar portion of the crude oil, as it cannot dissolve in crude oil but disperses in the oil phase as aggregated colloidal particles. During crude oil pipeline transportation, the changes in temperature, pressure and crude oil composition will induce the precipitation and deposition of asphaltene, which greatly impedes the safety and economic operation of the pipelines. The aggregation of asphaltene will obviously increase the viscosity of crude oil, which leads to difficulty incrude oil pipeline transportation
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