A comparative study to evaluate the performance of coated Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles for adsorption of asphaltene from crude oil in bench scale

ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted to evaluate the performance of magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles coated with polythiophene (PT), Mil-101 (Cr) (MOF), graphene oxide (GO), SiO₂, and chitosan for adsorption of asphaltene from crude oil in a bench scale setup. All nanoparticles were synthesized using co-precipitation method. The characteristics of nanoparticles were verified using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analyses. The concentration of nanoparticles was kept constant at the optimum value of 10g L⁻¹. The amount of asphaltene adsorption was determined at different contact times of 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2, and 4 hours. The results showed that the adsorption increased with contact time and reached equilibrium after about 2 hours in both continuous and batch experiments. The amount of asphaltene adsorption was lower in continuous experiments compared to batch experiments. However, it was found that magnetic nanoparticles are applicable for inhibition of asphaltene precipitation under flow conditions. Furthermore, polythiophene coating on magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles had the highest capacity for asphaltene adsorption. Besides, by applying a magnetic field, the magnetic nanoparticles that adsorbed asphaltene can be separated from crude oil to prevent asphaltene aggregation and precipitation.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Asphaltene adsorption
• coating
• continuous and batch tests
• crude oil
• Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Yasouj University: [Grant number Gryu-89111302].