Asphalt petroleum, asphaltenes

Dispersants for Asphalts. Asphalt and asphaltene components can produce difficulties in various processes in recovering crude petroleum oils and preparing them for transportation through pipelines or in refining separation. 

The road asphalt used in this study was obtained from the road as a fresh sample. The road asphalt is composed of asphaltenes (GPC peak at lOOA and petroleum residual oils (15) (GPC peak at n-C QHgo). The GPC of road asphalt is shown in Figure 9. Since petroleum asphaltenes cannot be separated by a lOOA pore size gel column, the asphaltene appears without any separation at the total size exclusion limit of the column. But the nonasphaltene components are separated showing a peak at n-C QHg2. The performance of the road asphalt depends on the asphaltene content as well as on the molecular size distribution of the nonasphaltenic fraction. 

Petroleum asphaltenes are commonly viewed as an undesired component of crude oil that creates serious difficulties in upgrading of petroleum heavy ends. However, it is not often recognized that processing of petroleum residua also includes production of asphalts where asphaltenes are not only a very desired component but the component that determines, to a great extent, the physical properties of an asphalt. 

The chemical classification of petroleum that distinguishes between oils of a paraffin base from those of an asphaltene base was introduced into petroleum chemistry to distinguish the oils that separate paraffin on cooling from those that separate asphaltenes. The presence of paraffins is usually reflected in the paraffinic nature of the constituent fractions whereas a high asphaltic content corresponds with the naphthenic properties of the fractions. This could lead to the misconception that paraffin-base petroleum consists mainly of paraffins and that asphalt-base petroleum consists mainly of cyclic (or naphthenic) hydrocarbons. In order to avoid confusion, a mixed base has been introduced for those oils that leave a mixture of asphaltic petroleum and paraffins as residue from nondestruc-... 

DA Storm, EY Sheu. In TF Yen, GV Chilingarian, eds. Colloidal Nature of Petroleum Asphaltenes, Asphaltenes and Asphalts 1. Developments in Petroleum Science Series 40A. New York Elsevier, 1994, Ch 6. 

Speight, J. G Yen, T.F. Chinligarian, G.V., (1994). Chemical and Physical Studies of Petroleum Asphaltenes. Asphaltenes and Asphalts. Developments in Petroleum Science, v. 40, p. 7-61, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam Speight, J. G. Andersen, S. L, (1999). Thermodynamic Models for Asphaltene Solubility and Precipitation. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 22,53-66 Speight, J. G., (1999 a). The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum. New York. 3rd Edition, Marcel Dekker... 

This test method is useful in quantifying the asphaltene content of petroleum asphalts, gas oils, heavy fuel oils, and crude petroleum. Asphaltene content is defm as those components not soluble in n-heptane. 

Solvent extraction may also be used to reduce asphaltenes and metals from heavy fractions and residues before using them in catalytic cracking. The organic solvent separates the resids into demetallized oil with lower metal and asphaltene content than the feed, and asphalt with high metal content. Figure 3-2 shows the IFP deasphalting process and Table 3-2 shows the analysis of feed before and after solvent treatment. Solvent extraction is used extensively in the petroleum refining industry. Each process uses its selective solvent, but, the basic principle is the same as above. 

The classic definition of asphaltenes is based on the solution properties of petroleum residua in various solvents. The word asphaltene was coined in France by J.B. Boussingault in 1837. Boussingault described the constituents of some bitumens (asphalts) found at that time in eastern France and in Peru. He named the alcohol insoluble, essence of turpentine soluble solid obtained from the distillation residue "asphaltene", since it resembled the original asphalt. 

Asphalt chemicals, ethyleneamines application, 8 500t, 506 Asphalt emulsifier amine oxides, 2 473 fatty acid amides, 2 458 Asphalt emulsions, 10 131 Asphaltenes, in petroleum vacuum residua, 18 589-590 Asphyxiants, 21 836 Aspirating aerators, 26 165-169 compressed, 26 168-169 propeller driven, 26 168 submersible, 26 169, 170t subsurface, 26 168 Aspiratory, 11 236-237 Aspirin, 4 103-104, 104t, 701 22 17-21. See also Acetylsalicylic acid as trade name, 22 19 for cancer prevention, 2 826 Aspirin resistance, 4 104 ASP oil recovery process, 23 532-533 Assay format, competitive, 14 142 Assay limits, in Investigational New Drug Applications, 18 692 Assays, for silver, 22 650. See also... 

The character of fuel oil generally renders the usual test methods for total petroleum hydrocarbons (Chapters 7 and 8) ineffective since high proportions of the fuel oil (specifically, residual fuel oil) are insoluble in the usual solvents employed for the test. In particular, the asphaltene constituents are insoluble in hydrocarbon solvents and are only soluble in aromatic solvents and chlorinated hydrocarbons (chloroform, methylene dichloride, and the like). Residua and asphalt (Chapter 10) have high proportions of asphaltene constituents, which render any test for total petroleum hydrocarbons meaningless unless a suitable solvent is employed in the test method. 

Residua are the dark-colored nearly solid or solid products of petroleum refining that are produced by atmospheric and vacuum distillation (Figure 11.1 Chapter 3). Asphalt is usually produced from a residuum and is a dark brown to black cementitious material obtained from petroleum processing that contains very high-molecular-weight molecular polar species called asphaltenes that are soluble in carbon disulfide, pyridine, aromatic hydrocarbons, and chlorinated hydrocarbons (Chapter 3) (Gruse and Stevens, 1960 Guthrie, 1967 Broome and Wadelin, 1973 Weissermel and Arpe, 1978 Hoffman, 1983 Austin, 1984 Chenier, 1992 Hoffman and McKetta, 1993). 

Deasphalting the removal of the asphaltene fraction from petrolenm by the addition of a low-boiling hydrocarbon liqnid snch as n-pentane or n-heptane more correctly, the removal asphalt (tacky, semisolid) from petroleum (as occurs in a refinery asphalt plant) by the addition of liqnid propane or liquid butane under pressnre. 

Asphalt A sohd residue left after distillation has removed aU other compounds from petroleum. The residue is composed of asphaltenes. 

Speight, J.G., 1992. Proceedings. Eastern Oil Shale Symposium. IMMR, Lexington, KY. Speight, J.G. 1994. In Asphaltenes and Asphalts, I. Developments in Petroleum Science, 40. T.F. Yen and G.V. Chilingarian (Editors). Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Chapter 2. 

Residua and heavy oils, like any other petroleum, can be fractionated by a variety of techniques (Speight, 1999) to provide broad general fractions termed asphaltenes, resins, aromatics, and saturates (Figure 6-6). By convention, the asphaltene and resin fractions are often referred to as the asphaltic fraction because of their insolubility in liquid propane and subsequent separation from a liquid propane solution of residua as asphalt. 

Briefly, the asphaltene fraction of crude oil is that fraction which is precipitated by the addition of a large excess of a low-boiling liquid hydrocarbon (usually n-heptane) (Chapter 3). On the other hand, resins are those materials which remain soluble in the pentane but will be adsorbed by a surface-active material such as fuller s earth, while the oils fraction is soluble in pentane but is not adsorbed from the pentane solution by any surface-active material. The asphaltic fraction of any petroleum, heavy oil, or residuum is usually a combination of the asphaltene and resin fraction and, in many instances, may constitute a large portion of a heavy oil or, especially, of a residuum. 

Bitumens from archaeological asphalts were glassy black pitches that acquired electrical charges when broken into small pieces. They were nearly insoluble in petroleum ether or n-pentane—the classical criterion for the presence of asphaltenes. Because asphaltenes can be formed by oxidizing hot petroleum residues, indications that they were also the end-products of weathering seemed reasonable. 

Asphaltene Structure by Spectroscopic Methods. Much of the information available on the carbon skeleton of asphaltenes has been derived from spectroscopic studies of asphaltenes isolated from various petroleums and natural asphalts (I, 2). The data from these studies support the hypothesis that asphaltenes, viewed structurally, are condensed polynuclear aromatic ring systems bearing alkyl sidechains. The number of rings apparently varies from as low as six in smaller systems to fifteen to twenty in more massive systems (13,14). 

In modern terms, asphaltene is conceptually defined as the n-pentane-insoluble and benzene-soluble fraction whether it is derived from coal or from petroleum. There are a number of procedures used to isolate asphaltene (2-7), all of which appear to be reproducible (8) but do not necessarily provide equivalent end-products. The similarity between coal- and petroleum-derived asphaltenes begins and ends at the definition of the separation procedure. Puzinauskas and Corbett s (9) comments on asphalt may be paraphrased and applied to asphaltene. They state that the broad solvent classification is unfortunate it leads to misconceptions that petroleum and coal materials are alike, or at least similar. However, these two classes of materials differ not only in their origin, mode of manufacture and uses, but also in their chemical composition and physical behavior. 

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