the synergistic effects of nio nanoparticles and a chemical inhibitor on the stabilization of asphaltene aggregates

The precipitation and deposition of asphaltene is one of the big challenges during the production of high-api reservoir oils, leading to undesirable financial and technical burdens on the oil industries# therefore, the inhibition of the asphaltene precipitation/deposition is of prime importance with respect to flow assurance# in this work, nio nanoparticles were synthesized and dispersed by ultrasonic irradiation into a liquid oil-based commercial asphaltene inhibitor to prepare a nanostructured inhibitor chemical# a dead oil sample from an iranian oil field, with the asphaltene depostion problem, was blended with aromatics to prepare a model oil# the synergism of the nanoparticles and the chemical inhibitor on the stability of the asphaltene aggregates at harsh de-stabilization conditions was evaluated by two standard tests, i#e# asphaltene dispersant test (adt) and analytical centrifugal stability analysis of asphaltene (acsaa)# the results indicate that the addition of a tiny dose of the nanoparticles to the chemical inhibitor improves the inhibitor efficiency considerably# it is inferred that the interactions of the nanoparticles with the asphaltene and inhibitor chemical are the underlying stabilization mechanism of the asphaltene#