Prediction of asphaltene deposition in porous media by systematic upscaling from a colloidal pore scale model to a deep bed filtration model

We have successfully validated the Asphaltene Option in ECLIPSE, using an experimental data set from the literature. We compare our results with a previous Deep Bed Filtration simulation model of the same data. We find that the experimental data can be reproduced by using the surface deposition parameter α only. This provides an important simplification of the Asphaltene Option in ECLIPSE. Moreover, the values of α can be predicted from a pore scale colloid dynamics simulation model using the Stochastic Rotation Dynamics (SRD) technique. It turns out that the values for α obtained in the literature (Wang, 2001) and our own ECLIPSE results are consistent with the predictions from the SRD simulation model. This may give an advantage over other asphaltene deposition models available in the literature.