Rheological and physicochemical characterization of UAE crude oil

Abstract

This study focuses on the rheological and physiochemical characterization of three samples of light crude oil and fuel oil from the United Arab Emirates. The dependence of density on temperature ranging from 20 to 200°C was determined. Also, the impact of temperature was investigated on viscosity, shear stress τ, shear rate, yield stress, and thixotropic behavior, and characterized by the Haake RheoStress. The exponential decrease of viscosity over temperature range was modeled using Arrhenius equation. The shear stress–viscosity data revealed that crude oil A solely exhibited Newtonian behavior while crude oils B and C and fuel oil followed the Herschel-Bulkley model.

Keywords:

• Crude oil
• liquid fuel
• fuel oil
• physicochemical properties
• rheology