A unidirectional one-dimensional approach for asphaltene deposition in large length-to-diameter ratios scenarios

Guan, Qiangshun; Chai, John C.; Goharzadeh, Afshin; Vargas, Francisco M.; Biswal, Sibani Lisa; Chapman, Walter G.; Zhang, M.; Yap, Yit Fatt

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2018.03.056

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The verification and validation of the Transport Module have been discussed in our other article (Guan et al, 2017). In this section, the Thermodynamic Module is independently verified against the results of PVTSim V20.0 and validated with the experimental data available in literature.…”

Section: Verification and Validation Of The Thermodynamic Modulementioning

confidence: 81%

“…The Transport Module aims at modeling Fluid Transport, Particle Transport and Asphaltene Deposition on the basis of a unidirectional one-dimensional one-way approach developed for large length-to-diameter scenarios. The main features, derivation, discretization and solution procedure of this module have been discussed in our other article (Guan et al, 2018). In this section, only its mathematical formulation is presented.…”

Section: Transport Modulementioning

confidence: 99%

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An integrated model for asphaltene deposition in wellbores/pipelines above bubble pressures

Guan

Goharzadeh

Chai

et al. 2018

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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Asphaltene has been recognized as the cholesterol of petroleum for decades due to its precipitation and deposition in oil production, transportation and processing facilities, causing tremendous losses to the oil industry each year. This work presents a numerical model to predict asphaltene deposition in wellbores/pipelines. A Thermodynamic Module is developed to model asphaltene precipitation, based on the sequential stability-testing-and-phase-split-calculation method using Peng-Robinson equation of state with Peneloux volume correction. A Transport Module is developed to model fluid transport, asphaltene particle transport and asphaltene deposition, according to basic conservation laws. Using a thermodynamic properties look-up table, these two modules are linked to each other to account for the effects of a finite deposit layer thickness on the coupled flow fields and deposition process. In this article, verification and validation of the Thermodynamic Module are first carried out. Then, the integrated model is utilized to study asphaltene deposition problems in an actual oilfield where the asphaltene deposit layer profile is reasonably accurately predicted. This case shows that the presented model has great potential as a predicting tool to assist reservoir engineers in assessing asphaltene deposition risks in wellbores/pipelines.

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Section: Verification and Validation Of The Thermodynamic Modulementioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Transport Modulementioning

confidence: 99%

An integrated model for asphaltene deposition in wellbores/pipelines above bubble pressures

Guan

Goharzadeh

Chai

et al. 2018

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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“…L/d is in the order of 10 2 . In the oil and gas industry, for a wellbore of length in terms of km but diameter in terms of cm, L/d easily reaches a ratio in the order of 10 5 [55]. For two-phase flow with the additional physics of particle deposition (with interface tracking/capturing for the fluid-fluid interface and fluid-deposit front), a fully threedimensional or even an axisymmetric model is computation very expansive.…”

Section: Mathematical Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Prediction of Deposition in Two-Phase Flow in Vertical Pipes

Li¹,

Yap²,

Goharzadeh³

et al. 2021

IJHT

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This article presents a model for particle deposition in two-phase flow in vertical pipes. There are three interacting modules in the model: Fluid Transport to predict velocity and pressure, Particle Transport to predict particle distribution and Particle Deposition to predict actual attachment of particles onto surfaces. Derivation of the governing equations is presented with the numerical solution procedure outlined. For verification, limiting cases with known solutions are considered. For validations, two-phase flows without deposition are considered. Upon verifications and validations, the model is employed to investigate particle deposition in two-phase flow with different flow patterns in both constant and variable cross section pipes, directly demonstrated the need to account for finite deposit thickness.

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“…Based on the kinetic models proposed by Vargas et al, 31 Kurup et al, 32,42 and Guan et al, 43 two other important equations are added to the set of equations, which are the mass conservation of asphaltene in the dissolved state (C dis ) and in the precipitated state (C pre ), C eq is the concentration of dissolved asphaltene in the liquid phase at the thermodynamic equilibrium, calculated by PC-SAFT. C dis is the actual concentration of dissolved asphaltene in the liquid phase.…”

Section: Deposition Kinetic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the kinetic models proposed by Vargas et al, Kurup et al, , and Guan et al., two other important equations are added to the set of equations, which are the mass conservation of asphaltene in the dissolved state ( C dis ) and in the precipitated state ( C pre ), …”

Section: Deposition Kinetic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a Computational Fluid Dynamics Compositional Wellbore Simulator for Modeling of Asphaltene Deposition

et al. 2021

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The asphaltene problem is a two-step process: (1) asphaltene precipitation, as predicted by the thermodynamic model, and(2) asphaltene deposition, the amount of which is estimated by the kinetic model. Asphaltene precipitation is a prerequisite but not a sufficient condition for deposition. Deposition is dependent on other factors such as surface properties, phase behavior, rheology, and flow patterns. As a result, in addition to understanding thermodynamic and kinetic models, it is critical to also understand flow models. In fact, multiphase flow modeling is at the core of simulation, and it must be coupled with thermodynamic and kinetic models. Numerous studies on modeling asphaltene deposition on pipe walls have been performed theoretically and experimentally, but a comprehensive theory to properly understand this phenomenon has not yet been presented. In thermodynamic modeling, the perturbed chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT) equation of state is used to predict the asphaltene phase behavior. In this study, we show that the proposed PC-SAFT model is more accurate than the solid model used in commercial software. Unlike prior research that neglected flow patterns or used empirical relations to model multiphase flow, this study simulates multiphase flow using separate momentum equations for each phase. Among the existing kinetic models, the Kurup model has been used to predict the asphaltene deposition profile in the wellbore due to its greater compatibility for computational fluid dynamics application. The results of the proposed model show good agreement with field case data of asphaltene deposition thicknesses along the wellbore tubing.

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A unidirectional one-dimensional approach for asphaltene deposition in large length-to-diameter ratios scenarios

Cited by 11 publications

References 20 publications

An integrated model for asphaltene deposition in wellbores/pipelines above bubble pressures

An integrated model for asphaltene deposition in wellbores/pipelines above bubble pressures

Numerical Prediction of Deposition in Two-Phase Flow in Vertical Pipes

Development of a Computational Fluid Dynamics Compositional Wellbore Simulator for Modeling of Asphaltene Deposition

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