Colloidal Asphaltenes—Non-extinct “Dinosaurs” in Native Petroleum

Abstract

One of the important paradigms of fundamental petroleum geochemistry has been (and still is) that native asphaltenes in present day crude oils originated in the respective source rocks and are representative of the molecular composition in ancient organic deposits. The survival of “prehistoric” molecular species is enabled by shielding them in complex macromolecular structures of asphaltene nanocolloidal particles. In addition, the maturity of petroleum expelled from the source may define the structures of asphaltene colloidal aggregates, as indicated by recent advances in colloid science. On the other hand, in applied asphaltene research, the above paradigm is most often ignored, while its revitalization may improve our understanding of asphaltene behavior in native crude oils and, in particular, may provide a new criterion for potential instability of some crude oils with respect to asphaltene precipitation and deposition.