Experimental Investigation of Asphaltene Deposition in Pipelines Using Thermal Methods in the Turbulent Regime and a Model for Prediction It

Asphaltene deposition is one of the main problems in asphaltenic oil fields. In this study, asphaltene deposition from crude oil has been studied experimentally using a test loop using an accurate temperature monitoring technique during Turbulent flow. The effects of oil velocity, surface temperature and the concentration of flocculated asphaltene on the rate of asphaltene deposition are investigated. The results show that asphaltene deposition rate increases by increasing both surface temperature and concentration of flocculated asphaltene. As the oil velocity increased, less deposition was noticed for the tests performed in this experimental study. The models were used for measuring the rate of asphaltene deposition is based on fouling models for heat exchanger. These models have two terms, the deposition and removal terms. The deposition terms are the same in the all of the models but the rate of removal is described either by shear-related or mass-transfer related expressions. The results of the data fitting show or authenticate that there are good agreement between the predicted thickness and the experimental value. Besides, the models that include the mass transfer in the removal term show a good agreement between the model data and experimental data. Therefore, these models are suitable and reliable enough for predicting experimental data.