Abstract: Crude oil fouling in heat exchangers is a major problem in petroleum industry. Deposition of crude oil constituents has been intensively studied for decades, but mechanism of these processes is still not fully understood. There is a need for chemical information about crude oil behaviour at various conditions. ATR-FTIR spectroscopic imaging is a versatile and powerful method for visualisation and chemical analysis of dynamic systems and heterogeneous samples. Here, ATR-FTIR spectroscopic imaging approach has been developed and applied to study crude oils and asphaltenes in situ. The advantages of this method have been demonstrated for the detection of precipitates formed from crude oil and chemical analysis of observed precipitates. ATR-FTIR spectroscopic imaging has shown potential feasibility to provide a new understanding of the fouling process by correlating molecular and chemical structures of the deposits and conditions that destabilise components of the crude oil.

Cite: Gabrienko A.A. , Kazarian S.G.
Chemical Imaging Approach for in situ Studying Crude Oils and Asphaltenes
ChemEngDayUK 2015 Seminar 08-09 Apr 2015