Energy & Fuels, Vol.15, No.3, 702-707, 2001
Effect of pressure and temperature on colloidal structure of Furrial crude oil
The small-angle X-ray scattering technique was employed to investigate the colloidal structure of Furrial crude and its evolution as a function of pressure and temperature. A pressure cell. with diamond windows and in situ pressure control was used to perform the pressure study between 1000 and 6000 psi. The temperature effect was examined between ambient and 150 degreesC. While the scattering spectra do not profoundly indicate appreciable change upon increasing pressure, the integrated scattering intensity over the scattering vector does indicate a systematic trend of structural dissolution with pressure. A polydisperse spherical structural model was applied to analyze the scattering data. The results revealed a systematic decreasing aggregate size with increasing pressure while the polydispersity of the aggregates increases drastically. On the other hand, both size and polydispersity decrease when temperature increases (up to 150 degreesC).