Abstract
The adsorption of asphaltenes onto nanoparticles (NPs) has received a lot of attention in recent years. However, the effect of the measurement technique on the adsorption isotherms has never been addressed. In this paper, the adsorption of n-heptane-precipitated asphaltenes, C7-asphaltenes, from toluene model solutions onto three metal oxide NPs, namely Fe2O3, Fe3O4, and Al2O3, was studied. Asphaltenes uptake calculated from UV–vis spectroscopy at three different wavelengths were compared with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results. Although the adsorption trends followed Langmuir isotherms, instrument as well as wavelength-dependent coefficients were obtained. We believe TGA results are more reliable, provided complete oxidation and account of mass loss due to NPs is attained. UV–vis measurements may be impacted by the chemical structure of the asphaltenes sub fractions as well as their state of association. Al2O3 showed the highest adsorption capacity of 385 ± 5 mg/g, followed by Fe3O4 and Fe2O3. Howe...
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