Developing new correlations for asphaltene deposition involving SARA fractions and colloidal instability index

Abstract

Asphaltene deposition in pipelines disrupts the normal transportation of the fluid produced. The deposition within the pipeline depends on the content of saturates, aromatic, resin, and asphaltenes (SARA) in crude oil. SARA analysis is used in the petroleum industry to estimate the stability of asphaltenes. In this study, a new set of correlations has been developed using regression analysis and the MATLAB curve fitting tool. The SARA fractions and the colloidal instability index (CII) are correlated with density, viscosity, and the combination of density and viscosity. SARA analysis data from 310 crude oil samples were used to develop the correlations while field data from 29 unique crude oils were used for validation. The best-fit correlations are selected based on statistical indicators such as the correlation coefficient (R²), the root mean square error (RMSE), and the average absolute relative error (AARE). Asphaltene stability plots were also developed for the new density-based CII (DBCII), viscosity-based CII (VBCII), and the density-and-viscosity-based CII (DVBCII). Based on statistical indicators, analysis of results shows that the density-based correlations for the SARA fractions are relatively more accurate than the viscosity-based correlations. The R-squared value for the DBCII is 0.7031 compared to 0.3234 for the VBCII and 0.6875 for the DVBCII. However, the percentage accuracy of 83% for the DVBCII is higher than the accuracy of the existing methods. The newly developed deposition envelopes are divided into stable and unstable regions that can be used to determine the stability of the asphaltene based on the physical properties of crude oil. The newly developed correlations for each SARA fraction based on the oil density eliminate the requirement for the laborious and time-consuming SARA analysis. Therefore, it is useful to predict the stability of asphaltene based on the physical properties of crude oil.