Asphaltene Mesoscale Aggregation Behavior in Organic Solvents

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dc.contributor.advisorAbedi, Jalal
dc.contributor.advisorHassanzadeh, Hassan
dc.contributor.authorAhmadi, Mohammad
dc.contributor.committeememberChen, Zhangxin
dc.contributor.committeememberPonnurangam, Sathish
dc.contributor.committeememberSanati-Nezhad, Amir
dc.contributor.committeememberTorabi, Farshid
dc.date2019-06
dc.date.accessioned2019-01-15T17:10:49Z
dc.date.available2019-01-15T17:10:49Z
dc.date.issued2019-01-10
dc.description.abstractAsphaltenes have received significant attention over the past decade, primarily because of their complex self-assembly behavior that results in their aggregation and deposition either in the reservoir formation or the production facilities. The aggregation and deposition of asphaltenes causes severe problems in both upstream and downstream sectors of the petroleum industry. For this reason, significant effort has been expended in shedding light on the basic molecular and colloidal properties of asphaltenes to identify the key parameters controlling their stability in the crude oil mixture. Molecular simulations provided invaluable information on the main molecular mechanisms leading to the asphaltene aggregation and also the principal intermolecular forces governing this process. However, the high computational cost of these simulation approaches did not allow the scientists to fully produce the aggregation behavior of asphaltenes in the past. In this work, we aimed at studying the asphaltene self-assembly behavior at mesoscales wherein the primary colloidal particles portray the asphaltene nanoaggregates. The Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations have been utilized to investigate the aggregation behavior of asphaltenes in different solvent environments at various volume fractions of asphaltene nanoaggregates under no- and simple shear-flow conditions. The BD simulations enabled us to access significantly larger length and time scales compared to the molecular simulations resulting in complete reproduction of asphaltene aggregation hierarchy. The effects of asphaltene volume fraction, solvent quality, and the shear rate on the kinetics of aggregation, the internal structure of the formed aggregates, and the self-diffusion coefficients of asphaltenes were also discussed.en_US
dc.identifier.citationAhmadi, M. (2019). Asphaltene Mesoscale Aggregation Behavior in Organic Solvents (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/35725
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/109462
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisher.facultySchulich School of Engineeringen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectAsphaltene, Aggregation, Fractal, Brownian Dynamics, Percolating Networks, Diffusion Coefficient, Shear-Flow, No-Flowen_US
dc.subject.classificationEngineering--Petroleumen_US
dc.titleAsphaltene Mesoscale Aggregation Behavior in Organic Solventsen_US
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEngineering – Chemical & Petroleumen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
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