Asphaltene Nanoaggregates Measured in a Live Crude Oil by Centrifugation

Abstract

Asphaltene nanoaggregates have recently been observed in live crude oil by observation of gravitationally induced asphaltene gradients in four different reservoir sands with oil columns up to 1000 m vertical. When the liquid phase is invariant, these gradients can be fit using Archimedes buoyancy in the Boltzmann distribution; the only adjustable parameter in data fitting is the size of the asphaltene nanoaggregate; ∼2 nm is obtained in four reservoir sands and is similar to laboratory results for asphaltene nanoaggregates in toluene. Here, a live crude oil (with dissolved gases) has been spun at modest g forces for long times designed to create a large, equilibrium asphaltene gradient for the presumed 2 nm aggregates. Elevated temperatures (∼91 °C) were employed during centrifugation to mimic reservoir conditions for asphaltene aggregation and prevention of a possible wax phase. Elevated pressures were employed on the hot, live crude oil to maintain dissolved gas concentrations. A total of 13 alliquots o...