Asphaltene Precipitation Prediction Using a Micellization Model Based on Experimental Data

Thermodynamic modeling is a promising tool for prediction of asphaltene precipitation. However, most thermodynamic models do not consider the micellar nature of petroleum fluids and the interaction between asphaltene-resin molecules. In addition, the accuracy of the predictions from the Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR-EOS) depends on the mixing rule. In this work, a thermodynamic framework based on the micellization model is used to describe the structure of asphaltene micelles as well as asphaltene precipitation in crude oil and the Wong and Sandler (1992) mixing rule also is applied. The results show that the model predictions are matched well with the generated data for two Iranian crude oils.