TY - JOUR
T1 - Effectiveness of inhibitors to prevent asphaltene aggregation
T2 - Insights from atomistic and molecular simulations
AU - Vatti, Anoop Kishore
AU - Divi, Srikanth
AU - Dey, Poulumi
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The technological landscape for industrial processes handling asphaltene is evolving at a rapid pace due to the increase in the extraction of heavy crude oil. The main underlying challenges in this regard are the flow assurance, the recovery of the spent solvent, and the sophisticated extractor setup required to develop the process to an industrial scale. The number of studies focused on the handling of the asphaltene at the atomic and molecular scales is growing enormously in order to identify new sustainable solvents for the effective extraction of asphaltene from heavy crude oil or oil-bearing sands. This Perspective focuses on the importance of density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations to explore the broader range of asphaltene inhibitors, e.g., nanoparticles, ionic liquids, and deep eutectic solvents, to prevent asphaltene precipitation. We provide a concise overview of the major accomplishments, analyze the aspects that require attention, and highlight the path-breaking studies having a significant impact on the process of chemical enhanced oil recovery from heavy crude oil reservoirs primarily based on atomistic and molecular simulations.
AB - The technological landscape for industrial processes handling asphaltene is evolving at a rapid pace due to the increase in the extraction of heavy crude oil. The main underlying challenges in this regard are the flow assurance, the recovery of the spent solvent, and the sophisticated extractor setup required to develop the process to an industrial scale. The number of studies focused on the handling of the asphaltene at the atomic and molecular scales is growing enormously in order to identify new sustainable solvents for the effective extraction of asphaltene from heavy crude oil or oil-bearing sands. This Perspective focuses on the importance of density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations to explore the broader range of asphaltene inhibitors, e.g., nanoparticles, ionic liquids, and deep eutectic solvents, to prevent asphaltene precipitation. We provide a concise overview of the major accomplishments, analyze the aspects that require attention, and highlight the path-breaking studies having a significant impact on the process of chemical enhanced oil recovery from heavy crude oil reservoirs primarily based on atomistic and molecular simulations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85187169026&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1063/5.0190779
DO - 10.1063/5.0190779
M3 - Short survey
C2 - 38450730
AN - SCOPUS:85187169026
SN - 0021-9606
VL - 160
JO - Journal of Chemical Physics
JF - Journal of Chemical Physics
IS - 9
M1 - 090901
ER -