Dual Active Resonator for Dispersion Coefficient Measurement of Asphaltene Nano-Particles

Abstract

Dispersion and diffusion of Asphaltene particles in n-Heptane is measured to investigate the solution characteristics of different concentrations in wide range of 0.000625-0.625 (%wt). Planar split ring resonator (SRR) is armed with active circuitry (active resonator) to enhance the quality factor over 3 K to achieve ultra-high resolution sensing and track minute variations in microfluidic tube. Parallel SRRs as dual active resonator are performing independently, both in sensing and resolution, at 1.03 GHz (f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">L</sub> ) and 1.149 GHz (f <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">H</sub> ) as the sensing tool in non-contact mode to monitor the spread of model oil (short pulse) in n-Heptane (continuous flow). With the frequency shifts (Δf <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">L</sub> , Δf <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">H</sub> ), average flow rate, and the inner diameter of the tube, the molecular diffusion coefficient, and then the dispersion coefficient can be rapidly derived according to two-window solution of Taylor-Aris dispersion analysis. Samples with higher concentration of Asphaltene are shown to have faster spread and larger dispersion in the flow. Dispersion coefficients of the samples cover the range of 5.2-7 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-4</sup> mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> /s in great agreement with conventional methods.