THERMODYNAMIC MODELING OF ASPHALTENE STACKING

Mineral oil residues contain a group of heavy polyaromatics known as t he asphaltenes. Agglomeration of asphaltenes plays an important role i n residue processing and influences product properties. To learn how t o influence this agglomeration, an attempt has been made to quantitati vely model the formation of stacks from single sheets, the first step in the process of agglomeration. We present here the theoretical basis of the model and the calculation of the model parameters using comput er-aided molecular modeling. The rather crude model is tested with exp erimental data, and possible practical implications of the first resul ts are discussed.