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© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

The article delves into the intricate phenomenon of deposition in heat exchangers and how a piece of equipment known as the benchtop heat exchanger test instrument (BHETI) has been developed to expedite the examination of this phenomenon. The BHETI subjects samples to substantial stress, facilitating the assessment of an oil’s tendency to generate deposits. Tests were conducted on two crude oil blends referred to as blend A and blend B using a BHETI unit. This equipment permits testing under various controlled conditions, including temperature, pressure, and volumetric flow rate. The results indicated that blend A exhibited a higher susceptibility to deposition compared to blend B due to its elevated concentration of light hydrocarbons. The wall temperature exerted a significant influence on the deposition rate, with higher temperatures leading to elevated deposition rates. Conversely, lower oil flow rates resulted in increased deposition rates. Furthermore, extended-term tests unveiled fluctuations in deposition rates over time when blending the two oil samples, suggesting intermittent fouling processes, possibly attributable to thermodynamic imbalances induced by mixing, rendering the oil’s asphaltenes less stable. The outcomes were subjected to analysis employing the Colloidal Instability Index (CII), which indicated that the majority of samples exhibited values exceeding 0.9, signifying asphaltene instability. Additionally, the examination of saturated, aromatic, and NSO (nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen) fractions revealed decreased saturation and increased aromatics after the deposition tests.

Details

Title
Experimental Evaluation of the Deposition Dynamics of Different Petroleum Blends in a Benchtop Heat Exchanger Test Instrument
Author
Villardi, H G D 1 ; de Medeiros, F F 1 ; Orrico, L C 1 ; A L B de Souza 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Junior, I M 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Liporace, F S 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Pessoa, F L P 1 

 University Center SENAI CIMATEC, Salvador 41650-010, Brazil; [email protected] (F.F.d.M.); [email protected] (A.L.B.d.S.); [email protected] (F.L.P.P.) 
 Research, Development, and Innovation Center Leopoldo Américo Miguez de Mello—CENPES/PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro 21941-915, Brazil; [email protected] (I.M.J.); [email protected] (F.S.L.) 
First page
7387
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
19961073
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2888133554
Copyright
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.