ORGANIC DEPOSITION IN PETROLEUM STORAGE TANKS AT REFINERIES DUE TO BLENDING OPERATIONS

Petroleum blending is viewed as a critical optimization strategy adopted by several operations of petroleum production in the refineries around the world. A persistent problem called crude oil incompatibility occurs when the mixture of different oils lead to the formation of solid phases due to the precipitation of asphaltenes. The present work investigates the relationship between the occurrence of sludge in petroleum storage tanks and petroleum blending operations. Hildebrand solubility parameters of the oils were determined, revealing that one of the samples of petroleum analyzed is at the threshold of the asphaltene flocculation parameter, with an average of 16.1 Mpa1/2. Thus, it implies that blending operations with dissimilar petroleum feedstocks must be well planned, since they can initiate the precipitation of the asphaltenes and, consequently, the formation of sludge that accumulate and deposit as sediments inside petroleum storage tanks.