Molecular Dynamics Simulation: The Behavior of Asphaltene in Crude Oil and at the Oil/Water Interface

Fengfeng Gao, Zhen Xu, Guokui Liu, Shiling Yuan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

148 Scopus citations

Abstract

Carboxyl asphaltene is commonly discussed in the petroleum industry. In most conditions, electroneutral carboxyl asphaltene molecules can be deprotonated to become carboxylate asphaltenes. Both in crude oil and at the oil/water interface, the characteristics of anionic carboxylate asphaltenes are different than those of the carboxyl asphaltenes. In this paper, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are utilized to study the structural features of different asphaltene molecules, namely, C5 Pe and anionic C5 Pe, at the molecular level. In crude oil, the electroneutral C5 Pe molecules prefer to form a steady face-to-face stacking, while the anionic C5 Pe molecules are inclined to form face-to-face stacking and T-shaped II stacking because of the repulsion of the anionic headgroups. Anionic C5 Pe has a distinct affinity to the oil/water interface during the simulation, while the C5 Pe molecules persist in the crude oil domain. A three-stage model of anionic C5 Pe molecules adsorbed at the oil/water interface is finally developed.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7368-7376
Number of pages9
JournalEnergy & Fuels
Volume28
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 24 2014
Externally publishedYes

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