PREDICTION OF THE PHASE BEHAVIOR OF ASPHALTENE MICELLE / AROMATIC HYDROCARBON SYSTEMS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Asphaltene particles can be dissolved in an organic molecular system, and they may form micelles in the presence of excess amounts of aromatic molecules. The existent thermodynamic theory of phase separations in micellar solutions, developed for water/ amphiphile solutions, it is generalized and applied to the prediction of the phase separation in micellar solutions of aromatic/ asphaltene at various temperatures and normal pressure, in this paper. Three forms for asphaltene micelle formation are proposed. The calculations performed are indicative of the existence of one new phase in the asphaltene micelle formation region. The results obtained are compared with the available critical micelle concentration data.