Abstract
Nanotechnology is widely recognized for having important applications in many industries, one of which is oil and gas. Both environmental and cost benefits can be achieved when using nanoparticles for the separation of water and oil or further purification of produced water. More efficient emulsion separation can be achieved by selective adsorption of naturally present stabilizing components or magnetic action applied to nanoparticle-tagged droplets. The focus of this review is given to both nanoparticles and nanocomposites that have been studied with respect to asphaltene adsorption, crude oil demulsification, and produced water treatment, as well as oil spill cleanup and improvement of antifouling resistance of filtration membranes. Asphaltene chemistry and its role in emulsion stabilization are discussed in detail.
Highlights
Present surface-active molecules, such as asphaltenes, are commonly found in crude oils all around the world
Asphaltenes are a broad class of high-molecular-weight hydrocarbon substances that are soluble in light aromatic compounds, such as benzene or toluene, and are insoluble in low-molecular-weight compounds, like pentane and heptane.[1−3] The asphaltenes are considered to be some of the main contributors to a range of flow assurance- and processrelated problems leading to enormous financial losses for the petroleum industry.[4]
The results showed that for both methods the asphaltene adsorption was higher from the Heptol system due to an increase in asphaltene self-association compared to the toluene system, and the greatest adsorption affinity was achieved for magnetite NPs, followed by fumed SiO2, and SiO2 NPs
Summary
Present surface-active molecules, such as asphaltenes, are commonly found in crude oils all around the world. The interfacial activity, which is one of the most prominent properties of the NPs, is typically introduced by functionalization reactions design to introduce specific functional groups The objective of this comprehensive literature review is to investigate the potential of nanomaterials, both NPs and nanocomposites, for asphaltene adsorption, crude oil demulsification, and produced water treatment. Ways: (1) exposing a certain mass of NPs under variable asphaltene concentration and (2) exposing a given asphaltene concentration while varying the NP dosage.[72] The source and MW are important as they affect asphaltene adsorption rate, affinity, and capacity.[73] the methodology for asphaltene isolation from the crude oils has to be taken into consideration, as C7-extracted asphaltenes show higher polarity and aromaticity than the C5 extracted asphaltenes.[74] The above-mentioned effects and others, such as the chemical and physical properties of the NPs, composition of the asphaltenes, temperature, pressure, and water content, are discussed in detail .
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