Skip to main content
Article
Flory-Huggins Solution Theory for Heavy Oils
Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering
  • Vijitha Mohan
  • Partho Neogi, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Baojun Bai, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Abstract

The addition of a solvent to heavy crude oil causes reduction in its viscosity and facilitates extraction. Existing data on swelling of oil in the presence of solvent in vapour form have been analyzed using the Flory-Huggins theory. The model uses volume fractions and hence problems related to an appropriate average molecular weight of oil to use in the calculations are avoided. The data expressed in terms of swelling as a function of solvent partial pressure fit well with the model when the solvent vapour can condense and is miscible with oil or immiscible with oil or even when condensation is not possible. We are also able to predict when phase separation can occur (which we take to be asphaltene precipitation) in the solution although the above experiments have not looked at this aspect.

Department(s)
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Second Department
Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
  • Flory-Huggins,
  • Gas Solubilities,
  • Heavy Oil
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2017 Wiley-Liss Inc., All rights reserved.
Publication Date
4-1-2017
Publication Date
01 Apr 2017
Disciplines
Citation Information
Vijitha Mohan, Partho Neogi and Baojun Bai. "Flory-Huggins Solution Theory for Heavy Oils" Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol. 95 Iss. 4 (2017) p. 796 - 798 ISSN: 0008-4034
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/partho-neogi/28/