STABILIZATION OF ASPHALTENES IN FUEL OILS

The stability or incompatibility of the fuel oils depends on the presence, amount, and character of asphaltenes tendency to precipitation. The significant technical problems during transport as well as storage or final processing can be connected with this fact. The stability of fuel oils is classified by the determination of the total sediment content. The method for assessment of the accelerated total sediment (TSA) is a very good tool for determination of the fuel oil stability or compatibility. In the TSA chemical ageing procedure the asphaltenes in fuel oil are gradually flocculated using n-hexadecane (cetane). Our work is focused on the comparison of the laboratory prepared fuel oils containing different amount of resin-based material. The effect of resin-based material on final stability is showed and described. The TSA method was optimized and verified for fuel oils containing higher content of the resin-based materials. The positive impact of the resin-based materials on the TSA parameter was detected.