We all know the nano-particles have been widely used recently in many aspects, and one of these aspects is the asphaltene inhibition, but I have question that when we want to add for example 0.1%,0.5% and 1% (by wt%) of the nano particle to the crude oil:
Do we make 3 nano fluids of toluene and nano particles with 0.1% (99.9 gm toluene, 0.1 gm of nano),0.5% (99.5 gm toluene, 0.5 gm of nano) and 1% (99 gm of toluene and 1 gm of nano) of nano particles by wt% and then we mix THE SAME CONCENTRATION of nano fluid with oil for the 3 nano fluids ? like we take 1 gram of each nano fluid and mix each one with 99 gram of oil so we end up of testing 3 oil sample with same concentration of nano fluids but different concentrations of nano particles? is this approach correct of there's another way of doing that ?
Maen Al-refai
You do not say what your nanoparticles are or in what form they are in.
The best process is to make them in situ in a bottom-up process. You'll have all sorts of problems trying to disperse a powder in organic solvent. Take a look at (registration needed):
Dispersion and nanotechnology
https://www.malvernpanalytical.com/en/learn/events-and-training/webinars/W190528DispNanoMat
Alan F Rawle Thanks professor for your answer, and for the useful webinar, i have went through all of it, it was very useful.
Do you mean that dispersing them directly in crude oil by bottom-up process is better than dispersing them in toluene and taking a portions of it?
my concern here is that the crude oil is a mixture between non-polar and polar constituents, it's more difficult to disperse the hydrophobic nano particles in it,
but if i tried to disperse it in toluene which is a purely organic solvent( and already a component of crude oil in aromatics fraction) and then add this solvent up with the crude will be better, what do you think about that ?
Maen Al-refai
You have still not answered one vital question. Is your 'nanomaterial' in the form of a powder? You need to synthesize your nanoparticles in the crude oil.
Maen Al-refai
Then you have a major problem... If it's a fumed silica with high SSA then you can never recover the 10 - 15 nm primary particles. Prolonged sonication will just disintegrate the sonication tip and contaminate your sample. Only route is to have a decomposition reaction in your oil that results in SiO2...
I am sorry, but I did not understand your questions here! Are you questioning whether the concentration is based on the carrying solvent of the nanofluid or the whole oil matrix? ....If so, that's not a big deal! You express the concentration the way you wanted as long as you define it clearly. Another important thing here, is your test here in batch or continuous mode (Core flood)? how do you prepare your nanofluid? ...have you done any DLS measurements to ensure the nanoparticles in your fluid are really in nanoscale?
Thanks Professor for looking at and answering my question! Nashaat N Nassar
1- yes this is exactly my question I want for example to add 1%wt of the nano particles to the crude oil so I can test it by laser scattering technique to determine the asphaltene onset point for the sample.
I tried to mix the nano like a dry particle with the crude i got a slight amount of inhibition and the nano for sure was not well dispersed in the oil, the AOP curve had a lot of spikes because of the nano aggregates (This is my experiment)
2- I decided to disperse the hydrophobic nano particle in toluene and then take a certain amount of that mixture to the crude so it will be homogenized with crude and dispersed better, so if I mixed 0.5% wt of nano with toluene and took 1%wt of toluene to the oil the percentage of the nano in the oil mixture will be too low (=0.00005%)
(So my nano fluid is just a nano-particle mixed with toluene for 24 hrs in magnet stirrer and sonicated for 1 hr)
3- I didn’t do any DLS measurements
Sorry for the long answer, and thanks again for giving a time to look at and answer my question
Just be aware when using toluene as the mother solvent for the nanofluid, as asphaltenes is soluble in toluene. Thus, you need to make a control sample with toluene only when studying the role of nanoparticles on inhibiting asphlatene formation damage. I would recommend you to use Heptol instead of toluene. Heptole is a mix of heptane and toluene!.
Nashaat N Nassar Depending on Toluene content in the mix with n-heptane it can also cause some asphalthenes solubility.
THe best is to use pure n-heptane (or n-pentane) as it is used for asphalthenes concentration.
Maen Al-refai However, please remember that addition of n-heptane (or even toluene) affects the structure of crude oil and can cause precipitation of asphalthenes already existing in the raw crude.
regards,
GB
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