Abstract
In this study, synthesized Fe2O3 nanoparticles were successfully loaded on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to obtain MWCNT-Fe2O3 nanocomposite for controlling the asphaltene precipitation and aggregation in a medium-heavy crude oil. The microscopy experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of synthesized nanocomposite for inhibition and dispersion of asphaltene precipitation. The synthesized nanoparticles and adsorbed asphaltenes onto the surface of nanoparticles were fully characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) techniques. Microscopy results showed that in presence of nanoparticles at concentration of 400 ppm the asphaltene onset of precipitation increased from 29 vol% in blank crude oil to 34 and 39 vol% for MWCNTs and MWCNT-Fe2O3, respectively. In addition, treating the blank crude oil with nanoparticles lessened the average size of asphaltenes and the rate of asphaltene aggregation. According to the TGA and BET results, the mass of adsorbed asphaltene per unit surface area of MWCNTs and MWCNT-Fe2O3 nanoparticles are 0.0065 and 0.0202 (gasp/ mnano2), respectively. Decorating of MWCNTs by Fe2O3 improves the ability of carbon nanotubes for inhibition and controlling of asphaltene precipitation and aggregation phenomena. Findings of this work reveal that the synthesized MWCNT-Fe2O3 nanocomposite has high potential applications for handling of asphaltene-induced issues in petroleum industry.
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