Colloidal asphaltene deposition in laminar pipe flow: Flow rate and parametric effects

Abstract

Deposition from a suspended phase onto a surface can aversely affect everyday transport processes on a variety of scales, from mineral scale corrosion of household plumbing systems to asphaltene deposition in large-scale pipelines in the petroleum industry. While petroleum may be a single fluid phase under reservoir conditions, depressurization upon production often induces a phase transition in the fluid, resulting in the precipitation of asphaltene material which readily aggregates to the colloidal scale and deposits on metallic surfaces. Colloidal asphaltene deposition in wellbores and pipelines can be especially problematic for industrial purposes, where cleanup processes necessitate costly operational shutdowns. In order to better understand the parametric dependence of deposition which leads to flow blockages, we carry out lab-scale experiments under a variety of material and flow conditions. We develop a parametric scaling model to understand the fluid dynamics and transport considerations governing deposition. The lab-scale experiments are performed by injecting precipitating petroleum fluid mixtures into a small metal pipe, which results in deposition and clogging, assessed by measuring the pressure drop across the pipe. Parametric scaling arguments suggest that the clogging behavior is determined by a combination of the Peclet number, volume fraction of depositing material, and the volume of the injection itself. C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

Deposition of Asphaltene from Destabilized Dispersions in Heptane–Toluene

“…It has been suggested that the rate of deposition of sub-micron aggregates is mass-transport limited, depending on the diffusivity and thus the size of depositing particles [24,56]. In deposition models the main factors governing deposition rate are the number of destabilized particles, the size of destabilized particles (which governs their diffusivity and transport through the liquid), the flow conditions (hydrodynamics) and other environmental conditions (e.g.…”

Examining Asphaltene Solubility on Deposition in Model Porous Media

“…8,9 Numerous studies have examined the arterial deposition of asphaltenes in glass and stainless steel capillary pipes. 7,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Diffusion is typically assumed to be an important mechanism leading to asphaltenes deposition. Nabzar et al proposed a colloidal model for asphaltene deposition in the diffusion-limited and shear-limited regimes.…”

Effective Removal of Asphaltene Deposition in Metal-Capillary Tubes

“…A few case studies were performed to measure the thickness of the deposited layer in well tubing with diameters of 4.5 and 1.75 in. (Haskett and Tartera 1965;Al-Kafeef et al 2005). In one case, asphaltene deposition in a west Kuwait well was assessed through measurements of flowing wellhead pressure by a pressure gauge, and found to reach one-third of the inner well-tubing radius (Al-Kafeef et al 2005).…”

“…In one case, asphaltene deposition in a west Kuwait well was assessed through measurements of flowing wellhead pressure by a pressure gauge, and found to reach one-third of the inner well-tubing radius (Al-Kafeef et al 2005). In another case, with a similar method, the deposit in five different wells of the Hassi Messaoud field in Algeria was measured, and found to reach approximately two-thirds of the inner-tubing radius (Haskett and Tartera 1965). Such excessive deposition greatly reduces production efficiency.…”