Studies on Naturally Extracted Surfactant to Enhance Flow Properties of Crude Oil

Authors

  • Naiya T. K Department of Petroleum Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India
  • Shirsendu Banerjee Department of Petroleum Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India
  • Manoj Kumar Department of Petroleum Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India
  • Irshad Ansari Department of Petroleum Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India
  • Ajay Mandal Department of Petroleum Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37591/jomcct.v7i1.1914

Keywords:

Crude oil, natural surfactant, pour point, wax crystal size, particle size analysis, viscosity

Abstract

Indian heavy crude oil sample from Gujarat was studied for improvement of properties such as pour point, wax crystal structure, particle size analysis and viscosity by addition of a novel surfactant extracted from a tropical Indian plant Sapindus mukorossi. Characterization was done to find the effect of surfactant addition on individual components of the crude oil such as saturates, asphaltenes, resins and aromatics. The objective was to increase the flowability of the oil and determine which components of the surfactant interact with the crude oil to improve its flow behavior. Heavy crude oil sample was mixed with 4% w/w of Sapindus followed by stirring the samples for one hour and proceeding for tests. The results showed that pour point decreased by a significant amount after adding Sapindus to it and that decrease in pour point was due to reduction in the amount of saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes present in the crude oil. There was a profound reduction in size of wax crystals when investigated under microscopic and particle size analysis. Surfactant addition had a tremendous effect on viscosity. The viscosity of crude oil at 30°C after addition of surfactant, was even less than that of heavy crude without surfactant at 50°C.

 

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Published

2019-04-24

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Articles

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