Comparison of original and de-asphalted crude oils during formation of HCl-induced emulsion and sludge

IF 6.1 1区工程技术 Q2 ENERGY & FUELS

Petroleum Science Pub Date : 2025-08-01 DOI:10.1016/j.petsci.2025.05.003

Ahmad Abbasi , M. Reza Malayeri , Maysam Mohammadzadeh-Shirazi

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Stable HCl-crude oil emulsion and its subsequent sludge formation, with detrimental impacts on oil production, may stem from acid stimulation. One major ambiguity in this process is to discern the most influential component of crude oil on the stability of formed emulsions. This fundamental question has not adequately been addressed in previous studies. In this work, the impact of de-asphalted part of crude oil (maltene) has been investigated on the acid-induced emulsion and sludge separately. Accordingly, the emulsion phase separation and the amount of formed sludge have been compared for four crude oils and their maltene samples for different concentrations of ferric ion and acidic pH values. The results of phase separation, as a criterion for emulsion stability, showed that crude oil samples formed 6 to 25 percent more stable emulsions than maltene samples, when using blank HCl. The emulsions of maltene and spent acid (pH = 2) broke completely during the first 15 min after emulsification. In addition, the maltene components usually had less contribution to sludge formation in the presence of blank HCl. It was concluded that asphaltene is the key component during interaction with HCl. However, the maltene of one crude sample formed higher acid sludge in comparison to its crude oil. For acid solutions containing 3000 ppm of ferric ion, the emulsion stability increased for all crude oil and maltene samples. Moreover, the stability of some maltene emulsions increased to 48% and 100% in the presence of 3000 ppm of ferric ions. The presence of ferric ions caused forming very stable emulsions, while most of the sludge formation took place at higher pH values. Finally, it was also attained that emulsion and sludge formations could happen simultaneously.

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原始原油和脱沥青原油在盐酸乳化和污泥形成过程中的比较

酸处理可能导致稳定的盐酸-原油乳状液及其后续污泥的形成，对石油生产产生不利影响。在这个过程中一个主要的歧义是辨别原油中对形成的乳剂稳定性影响最大的成分。这个基本问题在以前的研究中没有得到充分的解决。本文分别研究了原油脱沥青部分（maltene）对酸致乳化液和油泥的影响。在不同铁离子浓度和酸性pH值条件下，比较了4种原油及其maltene样品的乳化液相分离和形成污泥量。相分离的结果，作为乳状液稳定性的判据，表明原油样品形成的乳状液比空白盐酸下的麦芽烯样品稳定6% ~ 25%。麦芽糖烯与废酸（pH = 2）的乳化液在乳化后15 min内完全破裂。此外，在空白HCl存在下，麦芽素成分对污泥形成的贡献通常较小。沥青质是与HCl相互作用的关键成分。然而，与原油相比，一种原油样品的麦芽烯形成了更高的酸泥。对于含有3000 ppm铁离子的酸溶液，所有原油和马氏烯样品的乳液稳定性都提高了。在3000 ppm铁离子的存在下，一些马氏烯乳液的稳定性提高到48%和100%。铁离子的存在导致形成非常稳定的乳剂，而大多数污泥的形成发生在较高的pH值。最后得出乳化液和污泥可以同时形成的结论。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Petroleum Science 地学-地球化学与地球物理

CiteScore

7.70

自引率

16.10%

发文量

311

审稿时长

63 days

期刊介绍： Petroleum Science is the only English journal in China on petroleum science and technology that is intended for professionals engaged in petroleum science research and technical applications all over the world, as well as the managerial personnel of oil companies. It covers petroleum geology, petroleum geophysics, petroleum engineering, petrochemistry & chemical engineering, petroleum mechanics, and economic management. It aims to introduce the latest results in oil industry research in China, promote cooperation in petroleum science research between China and the rest of the world, and build a bridge for scientific communication between China and the world.