Evaluation of Asphaltene Inhibitors Effect on Aggregation Coupled Sedimentation Process

The aggregation coupled sedimentation of asphaltene particles in toluene and heptanes mixture are investigated in the presence of two asphaltene inhibitors including, dodecyle resorcinol (DR) and hazelnut oil. An image processing technique is adopted in the three sections in a settling column setup. The aggregation and sedimentation phenomena are evaluated through a time-driven Monte Carlo (MC) model. The results are in good agreement with the obtained experimental results. The results indicate that in controlling asphaltene sedimentation DR is more effective. The results also revealed that the hazelnut oil has a capacity to inhibit asphaltene sedimentation at high concentration.