Rheological behavior of crude oil and its dependence on the composition and chemical structure of oil components

Abstract

In this article on the example of two crude oil with the same content of resins, asphaltene, and solid paraffin, it is shown that they have different rheological behavior at low shear rates. The chemical composition of crude oil's high molecular weight components (asphaltene and solid paraffin) was studied by EPR, IR spectroscopy, and chromatography. It is shown that their composition does not differ significantly. It was revealed that the reason for the different rheological behavior of the crude oils is the content of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons. When the content of mono- and bi-aromatic hydrocarbons in crude oil increases, the degree of its non-Newton behavior increases. It is due to the formation of a coagulation structure in it. The data obtained have to take into account to predict crude oil viscosity when technologies for oil recovery and transportation developed.