Investigating the Effect of Novel Nanofluid Solutions (TiO2/ZnO, TiO2/Al2O3 and ZnO/Al2O3) Containing Didodecyldimethylammonium Bromide (DDAB) Surfactant on Asphaltenes Deposits

Abstract

As they constitute the heaviest and polar fraction of crude oils, asphaltenes affect undesirable precipitation issues during crude oil mining, transportation, and refining. Viscosity is one of the parameters influencing the precipitation of asphaltenes. Therefore, our research aims to reduce the viscosity of Algerian oil residues by employing a novel inhibitor based on a mixture of metal oxide nanofluids. Firstly, we determined the viscosity of asphaltenes content in oil residue as a function of the shear rate without additives, then in the presence of nanofluids of metal oxides (Al2O3, TiO2, ZnO). The viscosity measurements were carried out in solutions (pentane/toluene) containing 20 g/L of the oil residue at different proportions of metal oxide nanofluids (0 ÷ 3 wt.%). The same steps were repeated using nanofluid solutions (TiO2/ZnO, TiO2/Al2O3 and ZnO/Al2O3). The results obtained show that prepared nanofluids significantly decrease the viscosity of asphaltenic oil, hence, the separated nanofluids decrease the viscosity in this order ZnO < Al2O3 < TiO2 with corresponding viscosity reduction rate of 91.67% for TiO2, however, the effectiveness of mixed nanofluids to reduce viscosity is ZnO/Al2O3 < TiO2/Al2O3 < TiO2/ZnO for 94.67%. This study verify the implication of novel mixed nanofluid solutions for improving the flow of asphaltenic oil.