Application of Intercriteria and Regression Analyses and Artificial Neural Network to Investigate the Relation of Crude Oil Assay Data to Oil Compatibility

The compatibility of constituents making up a petroleum fluid has been recognized as an important factor for trouble-free operations in the petroleum industry. The fouling of equipment and desalting efficiency deteriorations are the results of dealing with incompatible oils. A great number of studies dedicated to oil compatibility have appeared over the years to address this important issue. The full analysis of examined petroleum fluids has not been juxtaposed yet with the compatibility characteristics in published research that could provide an insight into the reasons for the different values of colloidal stability indices. That was the reason for us investigating 48 crude oil samples pertaining to extra light, light, medium, heavy, and extra heavy petroleum crudes, which were examined for their colloidal stability by measuring solvent power and critical solvent power utilizing the n-heptane dilution test performed by using centrifuge. The solubility power of the investigated crude oils varied between 12.5 and 74.7, while the critical solubility power fluctuated between 3.3 and 37.3. True boiling point (TBP) analysis, high-temperature simulation distillation, SARA analysis, viscosity, density and sulfur distribution of narrow petroleum fractions, and vacuum residue characterization (SARA, density, Conradson carbon, asphaltene density) of the investigated oils were performed. All the experimentally determined data in this research were evaluated by intercriteria and regression analyses. Regression and artificial neural network models were developed predicting the critical solubility power with correlation coefficients R of 0.80 and 0.799, respectively.