X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements of asphaltenes and its mixture with several oil fractions have been carried out to clarify the relaxation effect against the self-association of the asphaltenes by the fractions.  With the in-situ measurements of XRD, SAXS, and SANS, several significant features of the asphaltene aggregation phenomena have been elucidated and a hierarchical aggregation hypothesis has been proposed.  On the other hand, addition of the aromatic compounds or oil fractions into heavy oils promoted the hydrogenation or hydrocracking of them and suppressed coking, and it indicated the aromatics may worked as a relaxation solvent for asphaltene aggregates and improved the reactivity.  In this study, it was verified with XRD measurement at the various temperatures up to 300 �C that the oil fractions enhanced the relaxation of asphaltene self-association by heat.  The effects of hysteresis of heating, increasing/decreasing of temperature or keeping time at a certain temperature were also examined.

Asphaltene aggregation analysis with high temperature XRD measurements

244th National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.