Study on the Kinetic Process of Asphaltene Precipitation during Crude Oil Mixing and Its Effect on the Wax Behavior of Crude Oil

As an important component of crude oil, asphaltene precipitation and deposition are harmful to petroleum production and processing. In previous research, the impacts of asphaltene precipitation on crude oil characteristics were preliminarily explored. In this paper, by mixing different types of crude oil, the dynamic process of asphaltene precipitation and its effect on the crystallization and gelation behaviors of mixed crude oil were in-depth analyzed and discussed using the high-speed centrifugation technique, microscopic observation, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermal analysis, and rheological test. The results showed that the asphaltene precipitation mainly occurred in the early stage of crude oil mixing and was influenced by crude oil composition. As the precipitation time increased, the driving force for asphaltene precipitation was gradually weakened until a dynamic equilibrium between asphaltene precipitation and dissolution was reached. Meanwhile, once the asphaltene precipitation occurred, the crystallization and gelation processes of crude oil were significantly affected. It was discovered that the change in the existing state of asphaltenes due to their precipitation is an important factor affecting the interaction of asphaltenes and waxes, which is critical for the technological development of oil and gas flow assurance.