CRITICAL ANALYSIS

1. FLUX OF PERMEATE AND ASPHALTENE REJECTION:

The membrane with pore size of 50 nm for the flux of permeate and asphaltene rejection are shown
in fig3.

Operating Conditions:
 120 °C
 200 kPa
 asphaltene content of the crude oil of 4.36 wt.%

The experiment was continued for about 4 h.

The colloidal size of the asphaltene particles is between 3 and 10 nm generally, depending upon the
asphaltene nature and thermodynamic conditions. By heating the crude oil up to a specific high
temperature, the size of asphaltene particles of the order of nanometer aggregates to form
micrometer size. During this period, the flux of permeate becomes one-third of initial value and
became constant and its rejection increases from 20 to 80 wt.%. The flux reduction can be attributed
to the fouling of the membrane due to gel layer or pore blocking formation. According to gel model,
asphaltene particles are retained by the membrane. By accumulation of asphaltene particles on the
membrane surface, the gel layer gets thicker and becomes the limiting factor in the flux of permeate.
According to pore blocking model, the asphaltene particles deposit within the membrane pores and
block the pores thereby decreasing the flux of permeate and blocking the pores. Furthermore,
increasing the asphaltene rejection can be explained by decrease in the pore size of the membrane
and as a result of that, decreasing the passage of fine asphaltene particle through the membrane.

2. EFFECT OF PORE SIZE AND FEED ASPHALTENE CONTENT ON THE MEMBRANE

FOULING RESISTANCE:
 Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show the membrane fouling resistance versus time for crude oils of different
viscosities and asphaltene contents, and membranes with pore sizes of 0.05 and 0.2 μm. The
figures well describes that the resistance of the membrane increases with the time due to increase
in the thickness of gel layer on the membrane surface. The Figs. 5 and 6, depicts the situation after
some hours, the fouling resistance of membrane equals for membranes of different pore sizes.
If gel layer is formed:
 Fouling resistance might be a function of fouling material specification
If pore blocking is occurred:
 It could be a function of both membrane specification and fouling material size

Clean membrane resistance is a function of membrane specification and permeate viscosity has a
strong effect on resistances. Overall membrane resistance may be limited by clean or fouling
resistances.
If overall membrane resistance for two different membrane pore sizes becomes equal,then
we can conclude and observe the following:
 Clean resistance is not the limiting resistance
 Gel layer has been formed on the membrane surface.

If overall membrane resistance for two different pore sizes did not become equal,then we can
conclude and observe the following:
 Clean membrane resistance is limiting resistance
 Pore blocking has been occurred.

Similarity of overall resistances on membranes of two different pore sizes, according to Figs. 5 and 6,
reveals that the dominant mechanism for asphaltene filtration is gel layer formation. Furthermore, the gel
layer model is also well applicable to Fig. 4.
3. EFFECT OF PORE SIZE AND FEED ASPHALTENE CONTENT ON FLUX OF
PERMEATE:

The flux of permeate versus time for membranes of two pore sizes is shown in Fig. 7.

As shown in the above figure, the flux of permeate decreases with time due to the membrane
fouling during the separation. After some hours, the flux of permeate becomes constant and
reaches an almost equal value for both pore sizes. According to Fig. 7, the initial flux of
permeate was 18 kg/(m2.h) which came down to one third of its initial quantity after 6 h. The
flux of permeate for three crude oils with different asphaltene contents is shown in Fig. 8. The
membrane pore size was 0.2 μm.
As it is obvious from Fig. 8, the flux of permeate decreased and asphaltene content in crude
oil increased. This phenomenon depicts the formation of gel layer for asphaltene separation.
With increasing the asphaltene content:
 The thickness of the gel layer will be increased
 Higher fouling resistances as well as lower fluxes of permeate would be resulted.

In the pore blocking model, low contents of particles may block the pores and sudden
decrease in the flux of permeate may occur for different contents of fouling materials. With
increasing asphaltene particles in the crude oil, the interactions among asphaltene molecules
are increased and larger asphaltene aggregates are formed. This led to more asphaltene
precipitation in the crude oil. The precipitated asphaltene particles formed a thick gel layer on
the membrane surface and as a result of that, there is a stark decrease in the flux of
permeate for heavier crude oils. Accordingly, the flux of permeate somehow depends to the
feed asphaltene content.

4.THE EFFECT OF PORE SIZE AND FEED ASPHALTENE CONTENT ON ASPHALTENE

REJECTION:

The asphaltene rejection for different asphaltene contents at optimum temperatures was
diagnosed.
 The results shown in Fig. 9 reveal that the asphaltene rejection for membrane with a pore
size of 0.05 μm was in the vicinity of 60 to 87% while the same for the membrane with a pore
size of 0.2 μm varied between 44 and 63%.

The graph depicts that :

 If gel layer is not formed on the surface of membrane, then a majority of asphaltene
particles will pass from 0.2 μm pores and otherwise the particles are so fine that can
partially pass from 0.05 μm pores.

 Another observation is that the highest rejection occurred for higher asphaltene
contents are related to thicker gel layers and more effective separations.

5. EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE RESISTANCE OF FOULING:

The parameter Rf for the membrane with a pore size of 0.2 μm versus time at different
temperatures is shown in Fig. 10. The experiments were conducted in the vicinity of 100 to
200 °C.
The increasing temperature caused a reduction in the crude oil viscosity. Therefore,
the crude oil could permeate faster from the membrane and thus separation increased.
According to these results,the resistance of fouling was increased with temperature. The
increase in Rf, could be as a result of asphaltene precipitation on the membrane surface as
well as increasing the gel layer on the surface of the membrane.

CONCLUSION

Crude oil filtration was conducted with ceramic monolith membranes.,which clarified that the
dominant role in asphaltene separation is played by the gel formation on the membrane
surface. Asphaltene particles are very fine and finer than pore sizes, inspite of this its
adsorption takes place at membrane surface and due to the aggregation of these particles, a
gel layer is obtained over the surface which effectively separates asphaltene particles from
crude oil. The gel model well explains that the flux of permeate and membrane overall
resistance are not strong functions of membrane pore size. Thicker gel formation on
membrane surface was a result of increasing asphaltene content.