Molecular Structure Of Asphaltenes Research Articles

A mechanistic study of the synergistic and counter effects of ultrasonic and solvent treatment on the rheology and asphaltene structure of heavy crude oil

Production from heavy oil reservoirs faces challenges, such as accumulating heavy hydrocarbon materials like asphaltenes near the wellbore, resulting in low recovery rates. To enhance recovery and prevent formation damage, methods often focus on reducing oil viscosity. Solvents and ultrasonic waves have proven effective in this regard, though challenges related to asphaltene aggregation and structural changes persist. This study explores the impact of simultaneously applying ultrasonic radiation and solvents on crude oil's viscosity and asphaltene structure. Toluene and n-heptane, representing aromatic and paraffinic solvents, were employed. Viscosity measurements and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy tests were conducted on sonicated crude oil diluted with solvents and solvent-diluted crude oil subjected to sonication. Results were compared to untreated and separately treated crude oil samples. The study found that the most effective viscosity reduction method involved blending sonicated oil with toluene under optimal radiation time and concentration conditions. Two primary mechanisms for viscosity reduction were identified. Firstly, there was the dissolution and aggregation of asphaltene clusters. Secondly, chemical changes in asphaltene molecular structure were observed, altering the ratio of aromatic rings to aliphatic chains. This research offers potential insights into how ultrasonication and solvation interact to modify crude oil structure.

Analytical investigation of asphaltene cracking due to microwave and ultrasonic radiations: A molecular insight into asphaltene characterization and rheology

Asphaltene is a fraction of crude oil that causes technical and environmental problems because of its instability and precipitation. Microwave and ultrasonic radiations have been proven to be efficient for oil viscosity reduction and removal of asphaltene precipitants. This research aims to investigate the alteration of the asphaltene molecular structure from a molecular point of view, as well as their rheological behavior, due to microwave and ultrasonic radiations. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopies, and Elemental analysis were implemented to find the ultrasonic and microwave radiation effects on the molecular structure of two asphaltene samples. Based on the obtained results, the number of fused aromatic rings is reduced due to ultrasonic and microwave radiations, indicating aromatic core cracking. The number of aliphatic carbons is reduced, representing the aliphatic chain cracking. Besides, the increase in the aliphatic chain length, aside from aromatic core cracking, was a sign of the ring opening. The reduction of the polar groups, such as carbonyl, in the microwave-treated asphaltene, was explained by more vulnerability of materials with higher dielectric constants to the microwave. The ultrasonic radiation was more feasible for removing heavier elements, such as oxygen. The aggregation behavior of the untreated/treated asphaltenes was investigated through rheological tests. The viscosity of the oil sample bearing treated asphaltene was lower than the ones bearing crude asphaltene, representing reducing the ability for aggregation. Based on the structural parameters and chemistry of the treated asphaltenes, weakening of hydrogen bonding interaction and π- π stacking were recommended mechanisms for reducing asphaltene aggregation and oil viscosity. This research could be used to modify the asphaltene structure to hinder the technical and environmental issues, caused by the asphaltene precipitations.

Effect of asphaltenes structure on interfacial properties: A dissipative particle dynamics study

Asphaltenes are important components of crude oil that stabilize oil-water emulsions. Due to their complex molecular nature, the connections between molecular structure and interfacial properties of asphaltenes remain unclear. In this work, the effects of polyaromatic cores size, length and the number of aliphatic side chains, and heteroatoms on the structural properties of asphaltenes in oil–water system are investigated by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD). The results show that the asphaltene molecules with larger aromatic cores are better for reducing the interfacial tension (IFT) of the system. The relationship between the interfacial activity of asphaltenes and the length of aliphatic side chains is not monotonic as the concentration increases. Asphaltene molecules with intermediate length and shorter length aliphatic side chains are effective in reducing IFT at lower and higher concentrations, respectively. The asphaltenes with more aliphatic side chains contribute more to the reduction of IFT at lower concentrations, but the side chains can hinder the adsorption of asphaltenes at the interface, which is not conducive to the stability of the system at higher concentrations. In addition, oxygen atoms in the molecular structure of asphaltenes are the key factors that promote the adsorption of asphaltenes to the interface and reduce the IFT. This detailed investigation of the behavior of asphaltenes would be useful to understand the role of asphaltenes in the formation of oil–water emulsions.

アスファルテン分子モデルの変遷

This paper reviews the average molecular models of asphaltene proposed in past years, and introduces recent results of individual molecular structure analyses. The understanding of the asphaltene molecular structure has evolved as analytical techniques advance. In around 2016, modern mass spectrometry ended the controversy over whether island-type or archipelago-type molecules are correct, and clarified the diversity in chemical composition. Atomic force microscopy techniques can now determine individual molecular structures. The historical changes in our understanding of asphaltene are summarized in five stages (Asphaltene 1.0∼5.0).

Asphaltene Behavior during Thermal Recovery: A Molecular Study Based on Realistic Structures

Asphaltene precipitation and deposition can occur at both the surface and subsurface levels, leading to the formation of organic-based scales. Asphaltene precipitation can also lead to changes in petrophysical properties such as wettability, which affects the ultimate recovery. Asphaltene precipitation is linked to changes in fluid composition driven by pressure drawdown and temperature variation across the reservoir. Thus, asphaltene deposition can adversely influence the ultimate recovery. Thermal recovery methods are invoked to mitigate the adverse effects of asphaltene precipitation. The behavior of asphaltene under thermal recovery along with the link between the asphaltene molecular structure and its response to the increase in temperature during thermal recovery are not fully understood. In this paper, realistic asphaltene structures based on actual crude samples were recreated on a computational platform, and several characteristics of the asphaltene structures (density, viscosity, and interfacial tension) were evaluated during the heating process. The density of asphaltene was correlated with the percentage of aromatic carbon in its structure. The viscosity and interfacial tension decreased substantially as the temperature increased. The IFT reduced by approximately 30 mN/m as the temperature was increased from 300 K to 450 K. Moreover, the mechanical stability of asphaltene was found to be highly influenced by heating. The findings provide nanoscale insights into the behavior of asphaltene during thermal recovery, which can be used to improve the design of thermal recovery processes.

A molecular insight into cracking of the asphaltene hydrocarbons by using microwave radiation in the presence of the nanoparticles acting as catalyst

This research aims to the microwave-assisted catalytic cracking of the asphaltene by using nanoparticles of SiO2, Al2O3, clay, and ZnO acting as a nanocatalyst. The nanoparticle-added oil samples were treated by microwave radiation at the radiation power of 1200 W for 10 min. After extracting the asphaltene, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR), elemental analysis, Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopies, and Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission (ICP-OES) were implemented to characterize the treated asphaltene. Based on the characteristic results, aromatic fused rings have been slightly cracked due to the microwave radiation in the presence of the ZnO and Al2O3 nanoparticles. Besides, the average carbon number of the associated aliphatic chains was reduced to the range of 3.3–3.9 from 5.4 after the microwave radiation. In addition, the microwave radiation in the presence of the nanoparticles reduces the Vanadium and Nickel concentrations of the asphaltenes to 71–90% and 75–93% of the ones in the crude asphaltene, respectively. Based on the indexes, calculated from FTIR spectrums, the asphaltenes are adsorbed on the nanoparticles, leading to absorbing higher microwave energy. By adsorbing the polar functional groups of asphaltene on the nanoparticle, they are heated until the bond cracking, leading to asphaltene release. An analogical insight to the viscometric tests and asphaltene molecular structure showed that the reduction of the electrostatic forces and the Hydrogen interactions are the main reason for the lower tendency of treated asphaltene to aggregate. Based on this study, fine particles, co-producing with crude oil, could catalyze the asphaltene cracking during microwave radiation.

The mechanistic investigation on the effect of the crude oil /brine interaction on the interface properties: A study on asphaltene structure

• The Asphaltene molecular Structure was determined by ATR and EDAX analysis. • the Asphaltene adsorption rate at the interface highly depends on the brine salinity. • compaction of the Asphaltene molecules Structure significantly affects the adsorption behavior of the Asphaltene. • The concentration of Asphaltene fraction in the crude oil has a key role in fluid–fluid interaction. • Asphaltene molecules accumulate at the oil-brine interface and perform the Asphaltene-ion-bound with the dissolved ions. Despite many attempts to study the interaction of fluids in low-salinity flooding, they do not examine the principles of interphasic transition phenomena. This study aims to provide a new understanding of liquid–liquid interactions during the low-salinity water interaction through a series of experiments on the oil, emulsion, and aqueous phase. Three samples of crude oils with different asphaltene concentrations and structures with known physical properties are in contact with different solutions. The brine pH, conductivity, and crude oil viscosity experiments before and after contacting the oil with brine showed that the heteroatom concentration and compaction of crude oil asphaltene fraction and the brine salinity affect the rate of the migration of crude oil polar component toward the interface. Moreover, the IFT measurement illustrated that interface interactions are affected by several parameters such as dissolved ion type, the concentration of the brine, and the concentration of the polar components in crude oil. The solubility of crude oil polar species such as naphthenic acids in the brine does not always increase by decreasing the salinity of the aqueous phase. To verify this important finding, UV–Vis spectroscopy and FTIR were performed on the brine and crude oils before and after in contact with each other.

Mesoscale Aggregation of Sulfur-Rich Asphaltenes: In Situ Microscopy and Coarse-Grained Molecular Simulation.

Asphaltene aggregation is critical to many natural and industrial processes, from groundwater contamination and remediation to petroleum utilization. Despite extensive research in the past few decades, the fundamental process of sulfur-rich asphaltene aggregation still remains not fully understood. In this work, we have investigated the particle-by-particle growth of aggregates formed with sulfur-rich asphaltene by a combined approach of in situ microscopy and molecular simulation. The experimental results show that aggregates assembled from sulfur-rich asphaltene have morphologies with time-dependent structural self-similarity, and their growth rates are aligned with a crossover behavior between classic reaction-limited aggregation and diffusion-limited aggregation. Although the particle size distribution predicted using the Smoluchowski equation deviates from the observations at the initial stage, it provides a reasonable prediction of aggregate size distribution at the later stage, even if the observed cluster coalescence has an important effect on the corresponding cluster size distribution. The simulation results show that aliphatic sulfur exerts nonmonotonic effects on asphaltene nanoaggregate formation depending on the asphaltene molecular structure. Specifically, aliphatic sulfur has a profound effect on the structure of rod-like nanoaggregates, especially when asphaltene molecules have small aromatic cores. Interactions between aliphatic sulfur and the side chain of neighboring molecules account for the repulsive forces that largely explain the polydispersity in the nanoaggregates and corresponding colloidal aggregates. These results can improve our current understanding of the complex process of sulfur-rich asphaltene aggregation and sheds light on designing efficient crude oil utilization and remediation technologies.

On the synergistic effect of asphaltene and surfactant to reduce n-dodecane–water interfacial tension: insights from molecular dynamics simulations

ABSTRACT The adsorption behaviours of three typical surfactants at n-dodecane–water and n-dodecane + asphaltene–water interfaces were systematically studied by atomic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The theoretical simulation results show that surfactants and asphaltene molecules have different synergistic effects in reducing interfacial tension. For surfactants SDBS and OP-10, the increase of interfacial concentration leads to the dissociation of asphaltene molecular aggregation structure and the further reduction of interfacial tension. However, DTAB showed the opposite effect. The increase of surfactant interfacial concentration leads to the increase of asphaltene aggregation. With the increase of surfactant interfacial concentration, the interaction between surfactant and asphaltene is not conducive to further reduce the interfacial tension.

Effect of Dicumyl Peroxide on Changes in the Molecular Structure of Asphaltenes in the Course of Cracking of High-Sulfur Tars

Effect of Dicumyl Peroxide on Changes in the Molecular Structure of Asphaltenes in the Course of Cracking of High-Sulfur Tars

Static and dynamic evaluation of a novel solution path on asphaltene deposition and drag reduction in flowlines: An experimental study

Asphaltene, as a destructive fraction of crude oil, reduces productivity by deposition in wells, pipelines and porous media and causes additional pressure drop on the fluid flow. The AUT-Force 110 multifunctional additive has been developed for the first time by the team of researchers of this paper, which has been identified as an inhibitor, dispersant and solvent for asphaltene sediment and its effectiveness has previously been proven. In this study, first, two crude oil sample from southwestern fields of Iran were selected. The selection criteria were differences in asphaltene molecular structure. The structure and molecular geometry of asphaltene have been determined using elemental analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Carbon-13 (C13) nuclear magnetic resonance test. Then asphaltene was coated onto metal powder surface (crude oil pipeline simulator) by means of a unique process. The steel coated with asphaltene was then washed with AUT-Force 110 to determine its effectiveness in separating the asphaltene adsorbed onto the metal surface. SEM images clearly showed that the multifunctional additive, regardless of asphaltene type, was able to change the mechanism of asphaltene adsorption at the metal surface from multilayer to single layer. In addition, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) demonstrated that in the presence of AUT-Force 110, iron (as the main constituent of metal powder) would increase by more than 12% in acidic asphaltene and more than 4% in basic asphaltene. AUT-Force 110 can also remove acidic and basic groups of asphaltene from metal powder surface by altering the electrostatic properties of the surface. The results of the spectroscopy showed that in addition to polar compounds, the multifunctional additive also reduces the amount of aliphatic and paraffinic functional groups at the surface of metal powder. In addition to static conditions, the efficiency of AUT-Force 110 in fluid flow condition was also investigated. For this purpose, two separate laboratory setups were designed and implemented. In the first setup, the surface charge of asphaltene flocs was determined in the presence of an electric field and the results of the zeta potential measurement test were verified. Asphaltene was often observed around the positive electrode (cathode), indicating that the predominant charge of asphaltene samples is negative. However, the higher the number of nitrogenous agents in asphaltene, the lower the amount of asphaltene accumulated around the cathode. In the second setup, a pipeline with accessories was designed to investigate the performance of the AUT-Force 110 as a drag force reducer in the pipeline. The reduction of drag force by AUT-Force 110 occurs with increasing fluid flow rate in the pipe. An increase in the flow rate is equivalent to growth in fluid flow turbulence, which could ultimately provide a better environment for drag reducer to function more efficiently.

Pyrolysis of Asphaltenes Derived from Residual Oils and Their Thermally Treated Pitch.

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was employed to investigate the thermal stability of asphaltenes at different environments (inert and oxidizing atmosphere) and identify their refractory nature. TGA and differential scanning calorimetry were carried out at a temperature range of 50–700 °C, for asphaltene samples obtained from atmospheric residues, vacuum residues (VRs), and aromatic petroleum pitch samples, which were obtained from the cracking of VRs at different temperatures. The TGA results clearly indicate that thermal degradation of asphaltene takes place in a single process that starts around 350 °C and ends at 500 °C, giving ash contents of less than 2%. The derivatives of the TGA for the asphaltene samples suggest that the weight loss of composite material took place in two steps. The first step corresponds to the degradation of aliphatic side chains or easily oxidized hydrocarbons, while the second step corresponds to the degradation of the aromatic sheets or the stacked layers. TGA of asphaltenes in oxidizing atmosphere showed considerable changes in heat flow due to the destructive oxidation of the asphaltene molecular structure. The thermal stability or refractory nature of these asphaltenes have been calculated as heat of energy or enthalpy of the molecule, which corresponds to the π–π interaction between the aromatic ring, hydrogen bonding, and alkyl chain size of the asphaltene molecule.

Effects of molecular polarity on the adsorption and desorption behavior of asphaltene model compounds on silica surfaces

Despite a large number of researches to understand the aggregation behavior and adsorption mechanism of asphaltene, the effects of asphaltene molecular structure on the adsorption/desorption behavior of asphaltene on rock surfaces remain scarce, which limits the understanding of the interaction mechanism under complex conditions and seriously restricts the development of heavy oil recovery technology. Here, in-situ adsorption/desorption experiments combined with molecular dynamics simulations were used to fill in the gap. The results show: 1) on hydrophilic surfaces, the heteroatoms or polar groups present in the symmetrical components of asphaltene mainly determine the adsorption behavior; 2) on intermediate wettability surfaces, the adsorption of asphaltene is driven primarily by π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions; 3) on hydrophobic surfaces, it is difficult to adsorb asphaltene due to the lack of polar sites and steric effects, but once adsorption occurs, it is difficult to be stripped off by low salinity water. Our results provide a simple strategy to investigate the adsorption behavior of asphaltene on rock surfaces using laboratory experiments and theoretical simulations, which not only contributes to fundamental understanding but also helps to develop a new guide for practical applications.

Experimental investigation of a novel multifunctional chemical solution on preventing asphaltene precipitation using two crude oil samples with different molecular properties

Asphaltene deposition in the reservoir and the pipelines reduce production and increases costs. There are two strategies for dealing with this problem using dispersant or inhibitor to prevent asphaltene precipitation, or in case of deposition, solvents are used. In this study, a solvent called AUT Force 110 was constructed, and its properties were investigated. This solvent is also called multifunction (MS) because of its molecular geometry for asphaltene inhibition and dispersion as well as dissolving asphaltene. Its performance was examined on two crude oil samples with different molecular properties. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed the MS solvent comprised of polar functional groups including hydroxyl, thiol, carbonyl, and carboxylic acid. The presence of these functional groups enables the MS molecule to form hydrogen bonds with adjacent molecules. Also, aliphatic compounds in MS molecule observed with a low carbon number that causes its compatibility within the crude oil. In the next stage, the dynamic light scattering (DLS) was used to measure the hydrodynamic diameter of asphaltene in the presence of precipitant. If asphaltene contains a high concentration of acidic functional groups such as thiol and hydroxyl, MS will reduce about six times the particles diameter. However, increasing the length of aliphatic chains and reduction in the tendency of asphaltene to form hydrogen bonds, the performance of MS in asphaltene dispersion rises. The MS has excellent potential in asphaltene inhibition regardless the type of crude oil and asphaltene molecular structure. The addition of 100 ppm MS to crude oil and n-heptane solution improved the rheological properties of the solution, and viscosity also reduced. Calculating the solubility number index, MS was classified in the category of solvents with moderate to good solvation power. MS is known as a hydrogen bonding acceptor and donor due to containing hydroxyl, thiol and carbonyl functional groups, and can establish strong interactions with deposited asphaltene. Since, MS has long aliphatic chains in its structure, creating steric hindrance prevents re-aggregation of asphaltene particles and makes a stable solution.

Characterization of deasphalted heavy fuel oil using APPI (+) FT-ICR mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy

Asphaltenes are n-alkane insoluble compounds found in crude oils and heavy fuels (high and non-boiling petroleum fractions). Asphaltene molecular structure has not been fully elucidated, and their presence in fuels is a source of concern. They reduce combustion efficiency and are responsible for particulate matter emissions. Removing the asphaltenes, or deasphalting, is a way of upgrading the fuel to improve its quality. This study reports the removal of asphaltenes from heavy fuel oil (HFO) using a solvent extraction method, and the detailed molecular characterization of the deasphalted oil (DAO) using positive ion atmospheric pressure photo ionization Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (APPI (+) FT-ICR/MS) and 1H and 13C Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Approximately 8.2 mass % of asphaltenes were removed from HFO using n-heptane as solvent. This resulted in significant improvements in the HFO’s physical properties. The resulting DAO was five times less viscous and contained significantly less heavy metals (e.g., Ni and V). There was also a slight reduction in the sulfur content from 3.3 to 3.1 mass %. 52,753 and 46,315 ions with a mass to charge ratio (m/z) ranging from 154 to 1200 were detected in HFO and DAO samples, respectively, using APPI FT-ICR/MS. Amongst them, 6729 (HFO) and 6030 (DAO) ions were resolved into their underlying elemental compositions (C, H, O, N and S) and a unique chemical formula was assigned to each mass. The resolved masses were then further classified based on their molecular class and were analyzed as a function of double bond equivalent (DBE) vs carbon number. 1H and 13C NMR analyses of HFO and DAO were performed and the results indicate the total aromatic groups in HFO (1H 7.7 mol %, 13C 37.6 mol %) are more compared to DAO (1H 4.7 mol %, 13C 32.6 mol %). The average molecular parameters (AMPs) of HFO and DAO were also calculated from the 1H and 13C NMR spectra and compared. A surrogate molecule that visualizes the average molecular structure of the entire fuel was developed for both HFO and DAO using the data from the above analytical techniques. Understanding the molecular chemistry of these fuels provides valuable data to develop better desulfurization techniques for these sulfur laden fuels and help predict fuel properties using structure-property relationships.

Probing the Effect of NaCl Concentrations on a Model Asphaltene Adsorption onto Water Droplets of Different Sizes

While a large amount of attention has been paid to investigating the effects of various factors (e.g., solvent and asphaltene molecular structure) on asphaltene adsorption, the effect of salinity, ...

A theoretical study of crude oil emulsions stability due to supramolecular assemblies

A main issue in the oil extraction and transportation is the presence of emulsions that are formed due to the physiochemical characteristics of the brine and the oil. The emulsions exhibit an increase in viscosity in comparison to the oil and it is strongly related to the water content and disperse phase morphology, this effect implies a decrease in the oil production due to oil mobility reduction, problems in the transportation, damage to the formation, among others. Experimental evidence of the properties of the emulsions for a heavy Mexican oil is presented where the disperse phase morphology directly relates with viscosity and the presence of a mechanically irreducible emulsion is confirmed. In the crude oil, the components responsible to give stability to these emulsions are mainly the asphaltenes whereas in the brines are the divalent ions, both affected by the presence of acids. In this work, a Density- Functional-Theory study was performed in order to determine the effects that the molecular structure of asphaltenes, oil acidity and calcium chloride have on the stability of water-in-oil emulsions. The aqueous environment was simulated through the Conductor-like Screening Model solvation approach. The experimental observations correlates with the conclusions which supports the idea that the presence of salts and an acidic environment promotes the increase of the viscosity and the formation of stable emulsions.

Structure comparison of asphaltene aggregates from hydrothermal and catalytic hydrothermal cracking of C5-isolated asphaltene

The main purpose of this study is to elucidate the effect of catalyst on asphaltene molecular structure during hydrocracking of C5-isolated asphaltene. Remained asphaltene and coke were obtained after hydrothermal and catalytic hydrothermal cracking of C5-isolated asphaltene at 380–430 °C, using 1000 ppm Mo from Mo-octoate precursor. XRD and NMR analyses were used to investigate the change of molecular structure of asphaltene during the reaction. It was revealed that aggregation of asphaltene increased with increasing the reaction severity resulted in coke formation. The presence of catalyst reduced the aggregation of asphaltene molecules in comparison with the hydrothermal cracking. It was also observed that the average number of stacked polyaromatic sheets in the remained asphaltene decreased with increasing the reaction temperature because of the transformation of high stacked asphaltene into coke during the reaction. Moreover, it was confirmed that the main reason for asphaltene aggregation was the reduction of steric hindrance of asphaltene molecules by the change in molecular structure of asphaltenes.

A Novel ANFIS-PSO Network for forecasting oil flocculated asphaltene weight percentage at wide range of operation conditions

ABSTRACTAsphaltene precipitation is known as one of the challenging problems in petroleum industries which have significant effects on production such as formation damage and wellbore plugging, that consequently impose a serious restriction on production and in turn increases total cost of entire operation. Through decades an extensive research has been performed in order to identify asphaltene molecular structure, its behavior at different condition, and its departure mechanism from oil. One of most critical parameter associated with asphaltene precipitation modeling is flocculated asphaltene weight percentage in oil at given operation condition. In this investigation, to eliminate cost and time related with experimental procedure that concern with determining this critical parameter, a novel hybrid structure of ANN and FIS with the help of Genetic algorithm has been developed, which trained and tested by over 350 experimental data. The constructed network show good performance regarding flocculated weight percentage forecasting, and therefore can be used as a universal tool in order to provide input for any asphaltene-related modeling, with assurance.

Application of ANFIS-GA algorithm for forecasting oil flocculated asphaltene weight percentage in different operation conditions

ABSTRACTAsphaltene which cover range of 1% to over 10% of oil by weight, is well-known as most problematic part of oil that can deposit during production in reservoir, well tubing, and surface production lines, and consequently impose a serious restriction on production which in turn increases total cost of entire operation. Through decades an extensive research has been performed in order to identify asphaltene molecular structure, its behavior at different condition, and its separation mechanism from oil. One of most critical parameter associated with asphaltene precipitation modeling is flocculated asphaltene weight percentage in oil at given operation condition. In this study, to eliminate cost and time associated with experimental procedure that concern with determining this critical parameter, a novel ANFIS network with the help of Genetic algorithm has been developed, which trained and tested by over 400 experimental data. The constructed network show good performance regarding this critical-parameter forecasting, and therefore can be used as a general tool in order to provide input for any asphaltene-concern modeling, with confidence.