Effect of Temperature on Asphaltene Precipitation in Crude Oils from Xinjiang Oilfield
Mingxuan Li, Yupeng Tian, Chuangye Wang, Cuiyu Jiang, Chaohe Yang, Longli Zhang
Abstract
) of asphaltenes derived from S1 oil and S2 oil were 0.378 and 0.408 nm, respectively, which implied that the asphaltene aggregates derived from S2 oil were looser than those of S1 oil. Therefore, high temperature could facilitate the penetration of resins into asphaltene aggregates and ultimately improve the dispersion of asphaltenes. Finally, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was used to verify the conclusions. Based on the molecular dynamics method, asphaltene aggregate models were developed. The compactness and internal energy of each model were calculated. The results showed that the asphaltene dispersion capability was proportional to the porosity and internal energy.