Small angle scattering and asphaltenes

Petroleum is a mixture of organic material consisting of a series of molecules with increasing molecular weight but with decreasing carbon to hydrogen ratios. This monotonic trend leads to distinctive properties of each class, cut by solvents. Asphaltenes are a class soluble in toluene but not in heptane. The importance of asphaltenes lies in their relevance to petroleum operations. Many properties of petroleum liquids are due to the interplay between asphaltenes and other co-existing components. These complex interactions impact on petroleum phases, and thus the operations. So-called petroleomics is a scheme to link the molecular structures of the most relevant components in the petroleum liquid to its overall properties, similar to the proteomics widely accepted in biological sciences. However, though the asphaltene molecular structure and compositions are relevant to the macroscopic properties of petroleum liquids, their aggregates on the colloidal length scale could be the most relevant elementary unit that dictates the properties of the petroleum mixtures. In this regard, it is legitimate to use small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) techniques to bridge the molecular structures of asphaltenes and the operational parameters that are commonly applied in the field. In this review, the linkages between asphaltene molecules and their aggregates and the asphaltene aggregates and the macroscopic properties are described. Applications of small angle x-ray and neutron scattering for characterizing asphaltene aggregates and asphaltene emulsions are also discussed.