TY - JOUR

T1 - Modeling of asphaltene particle deposition from turbulent oil flow in tubing

T2 - Model validation and a parametric study

AU - Kor, Peyman

AU - Kharrat, Riyaz

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Southwest Petroleum University

PY - 2016/9/9

Y1 - 2016/9/9

N2 - The deposition of asphaltenes on the inner wall of oil wells and pipelines causes flow blockage and significant production loss in these conduits. The major underlying mechanism(s) for the deposition of asphaltene particles from the oil stream are still under investigation as an active research topic in the literature. In this work, a new deposition model considering both diffusional and inertial transport of asphaltene toward the tubing surface was developed. Model predictions were compared and verified with two sound experimental data available in the literature to evaluate the model's performance. A parametric study was done using the validated model in order to investigate the effect of the asphaltene particle size, flow velocity and oil viscosity on the magnitude of asphaltene deposition rate. Results of the study revealed that increasing the oil velocity causes more drag force on wall's inner surface; consequently, particles tend to transport away from the surface and the rate of asphaltene deposition is decreased. In addition, the developed model predicts that at low fluid velocity (∼0.7 m/s), the less viscous oil is more prone to asphaltene deposition problem.

AB - The deposition of asphaltenes on the inner wall of oil wells and pipelines causes flow blockage and significant production loss in these conduits. The major underlying mechanism(s) for the deposition of asphaltene particles from the oil stream are still under investigation as an active research topic in the literature. In this work, a new deposition model considering both diffusional and inertial transport of asphaltene toward the tubing surface was developed. Model predictions were compared and verified with two sound experimental data available in the literature to evaluate the model's performance. A parametric study was done using the validated model in order to investigate the effect of the asphaltene particle size, flow velocity and oil viscosity on the magnitude of asphaltene deposition rate. Results of the study revealed that increasing the oil velocity causes more drag force on wall's inner surface; consequently, particles tend to transport away from the surface and the rate of asphaltene deposition is decreased. In addition, the developed model predicts that at low fluid velocity (∼0.7 m/s), the less viscous oil is more prone to asphaltene deposition problem.

KW - Asphaltene

KW - Deposition

KW - Parametric analysis

KW - Particle

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85025842292&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.petlm.2016.08.010

DO - 10.1016/j.petlm.2016.08.010

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85025842292

VL - 2.2016

SP - 393

EP - 398

JO - Petroleum

JF - Petroleum

SN - 2405-6561

IS - 4

ER -