Molecular scale study on solutions of asphaltene deposition problems in oil production

• Murata Sumihiko

  Department of Urban Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University

• Hibi Ryutaro

  JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration

• Yunfeng Liang

  Research into Artifacts, Center for Engineering, The University of Tokyo

• Matsuoka Toshifumi

  Fukada Geological Institute

• Hirayama Takeshi

  INPEX CORPORATION

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• 石油生産に伴うアスファルテンの析出とその対策に対する分子スケールからの検討
• 講演 石油生産に伴うアスファルテンの析出とその対策に対する分子スケールからの検討
• コウエン セキユ セイサン ニ トモナウ アスファルテン ノ セキシュツ ト ソノ タイサク ニ タイスル ブンシ スケール カラ ノ ケントウ

Abstract

Asphaltenes are the components of heavy fraction of oil. Once they deposit and clog the pore throats of reservoir rock, tubing pipes in production wells, and pipelines for oil transportation, it causes a serious problem for oil production. The objective of this paper is to show the applicability of “digital oil”, which is a full molecular model of a crude oil, and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation to solve the asphaltene problems. For this purpose, a digital oil of “A-crude oil” produced from an oil field actually confronting asphaltene problems was generated. On the generation of the digital oil, some analytical experiments were conducted and Quantitative Molecular Representation (QMR) method was applied. As a result, the digital oil was successfully generated. Then, asphaltene-asphaltene association energies in 7 different solvents: n-heptane, toluene, benzene, xylene, isopropyl alcohol (IPA), an azeotrope mixture of toluene and IPA, and a ternary azeotrope mixture of water, toluene, and IPA, were evaluated by calculating the Potential of Mean Force (PMF) using MD simulations and umbrella sampling technique. As expected, aromatics (toluene, benzene, and xylene) presents much lower association energies of asphaltene in absolute value than that in n-heptane. Among the 7 solvents, the ternary mixture provides the lowest association energy in absolute value. Therefore it can be the most effective solvent for the asphaltene of “A-crude oil”. Furthermore, it can be supposed from the result of this study that the association energy becomes lower in absolute value when the aromatic asphaltene solvents tend to distribute near around the edge of asphaltene molecule much more. Thus the digital oil and MD simulation would be a useful tool to solve the asphaltene problems in oil production.

Journal

• Journal of the Japanese Association for Petroleum Technology

  Journal of the Japanese Association for Petroleum Technology 81 (6), 469-478, 2016

  The Japanese Association for Petroleum Technology

Keywords

• asphaltene
• digital oil
• molecular dynamics
• association energy
• asphaltene solvent

Details

• CRID: 1390282679042209280
• NII Article ID: 130006733209
• NII Article ID: 40021061631
• NII Book ID: AN00130976
• DOI: 10.3720/japt.81.469
• ISSN: 18814131
• ISSN: 03709868
• NDL BIB ID: 027845173
• Web Site: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I027845173
• Web Site: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/japt/81/6/81_469/_pdf
• Text Lang: ja
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • NDL
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed