Stabilization of asphaltenes in aliphatic solvents using alkylbenzene-derived amphiphiles. 1. Effect of the chemical structure of amphiphiles on asphaltene stabilization

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Langmuir; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/la00018a022· OSTI ID:7111159

Chang, C L; Fogler, H S ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Stabilization of crude oil asphaltenes in apolar alkane solvents was investigated using a series of alkylbenzene-derived amphiphiles as the asphaltene stabilizers. In this paper (i.e., part I), we present the study on the influences of the chemical structure of these amphiphiles on the effectiveness of asphaltene solubilization and on the strength of asphaltene-amphiphile interaction using both UV/vis and FTIR spectroscopies. The results showed that the amphiphile's effectiveness of asphaltene stabilization was primarily controlled by the polarity of the amphiphile's head group and the length of the amphiphile's alkyl tail. Increasing the acidity of the amphiphile's head group could promote the amphiphile's ability to stabilize asphaltenes by increasing the acid-base attraction between asphaltenes and amphiphiles. On the other hand, although decreasing the amphiphile's tail length increased the asphaltene-amphiphile attraction slightly, it still required a minimum tail length (six carbons for p-alkylphenol amphiphiles) for amphiphiles to form stable steric layers around asphaltenes. We also found additional acidic side groups of amphiphiles could further improve the amphiphile's ability to stabilize asphaltenes. The effect of the molecular weight of alkane solvents on the amphiphile's ability to stabilize asphaltenes was also studied. 18 refs., 12 figs., 3 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 7111159
• Journal Information: Langmuir; (United States), Vol. 10:6; ISSN 0743-7463
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ASPHALTENES
STABILIZATION
X RADIATION
SCATTERING
ALKANES
AROMATICS
COMPILED DATA
INFRARED SPECTRA
PETROLEUM
PHENOLS
SOLVENTS
SULFONIC ACIDS
ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRA
ASPHALTS
BITUMENS
DATA
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA
TAR
023000* - Petroleum- Properties & Composition
400102 - Chemical & Spectral Procedures
400201 - Chemical & Physicochemical Properties