Effects of imidazolium-based ionic liquids on the viscosity of Mexican heavy crude oil: experimental and modeling study

Ionic liquids (IL) are compounds designed according to the application of interest; in this study, the transport properties of heavy crude oil were modified. This is because of the interaction at the molecular level with the asphalts, which are responsible for viscosity. Potential factors affecting viscosity and IL-crude interactions are diverse (temperature, emulsion phenomena, concentration and structure of the ion liquid). In this study, a statistical analysis of dependent and independent variables (simple mathematical model) is presented, generated from experimental temperature viscosity data (25, 50 and 80 degrees C), type of functionalized molecule with different alkyl chain size (C12, C14, C16 and C18) and IL concentration (0.01, 0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 %w). Viscosity decreases 80.51% to 80 degrees C, using a IL decreases by 70% for C14 and C16 and decreases above 80% by the effect of IL concentration. All these phenomena are observed and ratified in the main effects graph of the built mathematical model, allowing to generate a series of five equations, one for each categorical variable of this study (Heavy crude oil, C12, C14, C16 and C18): the use and application of the Simple mathematics allows to know the trend of dependent variable behavior (viscosity) based on independent and categorical.