An Experimental Investigation and Prediction of Asphaltene Deposition during Laminar Flow in the Pipes Using a Heat Transfer Approach

In this study, asphaltene deposition from crude oil has experimentally and theoretically been studied using a test loop and an accurate temperature monitoring during a laminar flow. The effects of oil velocity and surface temperature on the thickness of asphaltene deposition were investigated. The results show that asphaltene deposition thickness increases by increasing surface temperature. As the oil velocity increased, less deposition was noticed in this experimental study. The thermal approach was used to describe the mechanisms involved in this process, and the results of data fitting showed that there was good agreement between the results of the proposed model and the measured asphaltene deposition rates. Moreover, the theoretical study of deposition process showed that the rate of asphaltene deposition was inversely related to velocity, which was proved by the experimental results.