Development of a supercritical extraction pilot plant for upgrading of heavy oils and study of the asphaltene aggregation process / Desenvolvimento de uma planta piloto de desasfaltação supercritica para valoração de petroleos pesados e estudo do processo de agregação dos asfaltenos

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

Alphaltenes are complex aromatic macro-cycle molecules, with a molecular structure that varies depending on the origin of the crude oil. Apart from heir contribution to the properties of petroleum, the study of the asphaltic fraction asbecome more important, due to the problems encountered during petroleum Pro cessing caused by asphaltene precipitation, which causes pipe clogging and catalyst deactivation. Associated with the problems related to the presence of asphalthenes, the petroleum industry developed new processes for upgrading of heavy oils and residues, designed for recovering asphaltenes and lube oil from that mixture. The Residuum Oil Supercritical Extraction (ROSE™) process is the premier deasphalting technology available in industry. This process extracts high-quality deasphalted oil (DAO) and asphaltenes from atmospheric or vacuum residues and other heavier feedstocks. In this work the extraction of asphaltenes from oil was assessed using two different approaches. The first one was the installation and commissioning of a supercritical deasphalting pilot plant, assisted by simulations using a process simulation software and a thermodynamic study of the system comprised of deasphalted oil, asphaltenes and the solvent. The second approach was the use optical strategies to analyze and model asphaltene aggregation, which is the first step of the supercritical dealphalting process. The first optical technique used was dynamic light scattering (DLS), which gave information such as to study and describe the kinetics of asphaltene aggregation in aromatic solvents, at different temperatures. Associated with the DLS results, CARS (Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering) images were acquired with different solvents, and allowed an evaluation of the behavior of asphaltenes while they aggregate. These results are very important, once they provide insightful information on the asphaltene aggregation mechanism that still remains as a great unsolved problem in the petroleum industry, allowing it to be controlled in order to reduce problems related with asphaltene precipitation in oil transport and processing and improving the performance of heavy oils upgrading processes.

ASSUNTO(S)

asphaltene light scattering asfalteno petróleo luz - espalhamento petroleum heavy minerals minerais pesados

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