The main objective of this work is the catalyst optimization of Fe2O3-, Co3O4-, NiO- and/or PdO- (transition element oxides—TEO) functionalized CeO2 nanoparticles to maximize the conversion of asphaltenes under isothermal conditions at low temperatures (<250 °C) during steam injection processes. Adsorption isotherms and the subsequent steam decomposition process of asphaltenes for evaluating the catalysis were performed through batch adsorption experiments and thermogravimetric analyses coupled to Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. The adsorption isotherms and the catalytic behavior were described by the solid-liquid equilibrium (SLE) model and isothermal model, respectively. Initially, three pairs of metal oxide combinations at a mass fraction of 1% of loading of CeNi1Pd1, CeCo1Pd1, and CeFe1Pd1 nanoparticles were evaluated based on the adsorption and catalytic activity, showing better results for the CeNi1Pd1 due to the Lewis acidity changes. Posteriorly, a simplex-centroid mixture design of experiments (SCMD) of three components was employed to optimize the metal oxides concentration (Ni and Pd) onto the CeO2 surface by varying the oxides concentration for mass fractions from 0.0% to 2.0% to maximize the asphaltene conversion at low temperatures. Results showed that by incorporating mono-elemental and bi-elemental oxides onto CeO2 nanoparticles, both adsorption and isothermal conversion of asphaltenes decrease in the order CeNi1Pd1 > CePd2 > CeNi0.66Pd0.66 > CeNi2 > CePd1 > CeNi1 > CeO2. It is worth mentioning that bi-elemental nanoparticles reduced the gasification temperature of asphaltenes in a larger degree than mono-elemental nanoparticles at a fixed amount of adsorbed asphaltenes of 0.02 mg·m−2, confirming the synergistic effects between Pd and Fe, Co, and Ni. Further, optimized nanoparticles (CeNi0.89Pd1.1) have the best performance by obtaining 100% asphaltenes conversion in less than 90 min at 220 °C while reducing 80% the activation energy.

This study was carried out with the aim of evaluating the effect of the high pressure on the oxidation kinetics of n-heptane-insoluble asphaltenes, obtained from an extra-heavy crude oil. Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) were performed under an air atmosphere, at different pressures from 0.084 to 7 MPa, and temperatures from 100 to 600 °C at different heating ramps of 5, 10, and 15 °C min −1 . The effective activation energy and the kinetic parameters were obtained using a first-order kinetic model, which indicated a pressure-dependent behavior. For a better understanding of the asphaltene oxidation under high-pressure conditions, the temperature range in which the oxidation process was carried out was divided in to four main regions according to the TGA profile, namely: (i) oxygen chemisorption (OC), (ii) decomposition of the chemisorbed oxygen (DCO), (iii) first combustion (FC) region, and (iv) second combustion (SC) region. It was observed that the increase of pressure favors the asphaltene decomposition as the percentages of mass loss in the first combustion region are 20% at 0.084 MPa and 50% at 7 MPa. Furthermore, the temperature at which each thermal event ends is reduced by approximately 35, 23, 13, and 51 °C from 0.084 to 7 MPa for OC, DCO, FC, and SC, respectively. Also, by increasing the heating rate, the decomposition of the asphaltene in the second combustion region is increased, indicating that the decomposition follows different mechanisms depending on the exposure time. On the other hand, with the increase in the system pressure, an increase of 53.1 and 71.1% of the effective activation energy values was observed for the thermal events associated to oxygen chemisorption and decomposition of chemisorbed oxygen, respectively, while for the combustion (FC and SC) stages, the activation energy decreases by 61.4 and 75.6%, respectively, indicating that the asphaltene oxidation behavior is controlled by the pressure in the four regions. All of these facts show that the kinetic limiting step for the asphaltene oxidation is the chemisorption of the oxygen, which is favored by the increase of the pressure.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the regenerative effect of functionalized CeO2±δ nanoparticles with a mass fraction of 0.89% of NiO and 1.1% of PdO in adsorption and subsequent decomposition of n-C7 asphaltenes in steam gasification processes. During each regeneration cycle, the adsorption capacity and the catalytic activity of the nanoparticles were evaluated. To estimate the adsorption capacity of the nanoparticles, adsorption kinetics were studied at a fixed concentration of n-C7 asphaltenes of 10 mg·L−1 as well as adsorption isotherms at three different temperatures at 25 °C, 55 °C, and 75 °C. To evaluate the catalytic activity, the loss of mass of the nanoparticles was evaluated by isothermal conversions with a thermogravimetric analyzer at 230 °C, 240 °C, and 250 °C, and at non-isothermal conditions involving a heating from 100 °C to 600 °C at a 20 °C·min−1 heating rate. The asphaltenes showed a high affinity for being adsorbed over the nanoparticles surface, due to the nanoparticles-asphaltene interactions are stronger than those that occur between asphaltene-asphaltene, and this was maintained during nine evaluated regeneration cycles as observed in the Henry’s constant that increased slightly, with changes of 21%, 26% and 31% for 25 °C, 55 °C and 75 °C. Polanyi’s adsorption potential decreases by 2.6% for the same amount adsorbed from the first cycle to the ninth. In addition, the catalytic activity of the nanoparticles did not change significantly, showing that they decompose 100% of the n-C7 asphaltenes in all cycles. However, the small decrease in the adsorption capacity and catalytic activity of the nanoparticles is mainly due to the presence and change in concentration and ratio of certain elements such as oxygen, iron or others at the surface of the nanoparticle as shown by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. Thermodynamic parameters of adsorption such as Δ H a d s o , Δ S a d s o , and Δ G a d s o and the effective activation energy (Ea) were calculated to compare adsorptive and catalytic performance during each cycle. There is an increase of 9.3% and 2.6% in the case of entropy and enthalpy, respectively, and a decrease of 0.5%, 3.1% and 6.5% for 25 °C, 55 °C and 75 °C respectively for the Gibss free energy from cycle 1 to cycle 9. It was found that these parameters are correlated with the Ce concentration and oxidation state ratios (Ce3+/Ce4+ couple) at the surface.

Effects of pressure on thermo-oxidative decomposition of different sources of n-C7 asphaltenes were investigated at high pressure using a thermogravimetric analyzer under an air atmosphere. The n-C7 asphaltenes were extracted from different heavy and extra-heavy crude oils around the world and were thoroughly characterized by elemental analysis (EA), vapor pressure osmometry (VPO), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. A high-pressure thermogravimetric analyzer coupled to a mass spectrometer was employed to obtain thermograms at 0.084, 3.0, and 6.0 MPa, and gaseous products were obtained by asphaltene decomposition. Kinetic analyses were performed for thermo-oxidative multistep reactions and compared based on the trends of pre-exponential factor and effective activation energies using an approximation of the Ozawa, Flynn, and Wall (OFW) isoconversional method. The n-C7 asphaltene decomposition profile was determined by four thermal events, namely, oxygen chemisorption (OC), desorption/decomposition of chemisorbed oxygen functional groups (DCO), and first and second combustion (FC and SC, respectively). We found that the amount of chemisorbed oxygen depends not so much on the oxygen percentage present in the n-C7 asphaltenes and aggregates but on whether it is found in a greater proportion as COO groups, independent of the used pressure. In addition, as the aromatization degree increases and the alkylation degree decreases, the amount of oxygen atoms chemisorbed also increases. As for the DCO region, it was corroborated that the increase in pressure from 0.084 to 6.0 MPa has a positive influence on the mass loss in this region for all samples used. The n-C7 asphaltenes with a higher chemisorption in the previous region showed a higher decomposition or loss of oxygenated compounds during DCO because there are more oxygenated groups in the basal plane of aromatic structures; therefore, the kinetics of the carbonaceous material consumption is increased. According to XPS analysis, n-C7 asphaltenes with a higher content of sulfur as thioethers show facilitated decomposition, due to the low energy required for their oxidation and subsequent cracking, throughout the range of evaluated pressures. Further, the higher content of hydrogen on α carbons to aromatic rings suggests that some of their small alkyl side chains are cracked in this zone due to the easy decomposition of α-methyl, α-methylene, and α-methine structures. As for the FC region, up to 3.0 MPa, a greater mass loss occurs in n-C7 asphaltenes with a high content of short aliphatic chains. Nevertheless, at 6.0 MPa, the mass loss percentage decreases in similar measures for all samples, indicating that under these conditions there is greater ease of breaking the functional groups located both in the basal plane of the aromatic rings and on the periphery of the molecule. Finally, during high-temperature oxidation reactions (SC), the higher a...

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