Petroleum Processing and Petrochemicals ›› 2020, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (10): 70-76.

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EFFECT OF RESIN ON ASPHALTENE STABILITY

  

  • Received:2020-03-24 Revised:2020-04-23 Online:2020-10-12 Published:2020-10-27

Abstract: It is generally acknowledged that the particle size of the deposit reflects the influence of resin on the stability of asphaltene. To further study the effect of the interaction between resin and asphaltene on the stability of asphaltene, based on the analysis of the average structural units of asphaltene and resin and the calculation of solubility parameters, resin NBR and resin VRR were added into a asphaltene model oil (its deposit known as AS deposit), resulting in the AS + NBR and AS + VRR deposits, respectively. The results showed that asphaltene had the strongest aromaticity and the largest solubility parameter (20.61 MPa1/2), and the aromaticity and solubility parameter (17.80 MPa1/2) of resin VRR was higher than that of resin NBR. In asphaltene model oil, with the increase of the mass concentration of VRR, the sediment particle size decreased. The addition of NBR did not make the deposit particle size smaller, but when the mass concentration reaches 1 000 mg/L, the sediment particle size increased instead. The results of TGA, XRD and GPC of three deposits showed that there was association between resin and asphaltene, which decreased the thickness and diameter of aromatic lamellae, increased the interlayer space, and decreased the number of aromatic lamellae. The order of the relative molecular weight of the three deposits was AS > AS + NBR > AS + VRR. It is concluded that the resin VRR, which has strong aromaticity and solubility parameter close to asphaltene, can disperse and stabilize asphaltene better, make the particle size and molecular weight of deposit smaller, and the degree of graphitization smaller, so it is not easy to deposit and coking.

Key words: asphaltene, resin, solubility parameter, stability, deposit