Phase Behavior Modeling of Asphaltene Precipitation for Heavy Crude Including the Effect of Pressure and Temperature

摘要

Despite numerous experimental and modeling studies, the role of temperature changes on phase behavior modeling of asphaltene precipitation and, in consequence, developing of asphaltene phase envelope in heavy crudes, remains a topic of debate in the literature. In this work, a computer code based on the non-isothermal improved solid model has been developed and used for predicting asphaltene precipitation data for one of the Iranian heavy crudes at different levels of temperature and pressure. The parameters of the non-isothermal model were tuned using three onset pressures at three different temperatures, and the asphaltene phase envelope was developed. The results showed that at high temperatures, increasing the temperature results in a lower amount of asphaltene precipitation and also it causes the convergence of lower and upper boundaries of asphaltene phase envelope. This work illustrates successful application of non-isothermal improved solid model for developing the asphaltene phase envelope of heavy crude.