MEASUREMENT OF ASPHALTENE AGGLOMERATION FROM COLD LAKE BITUMEN DILUTED WITH N-ALKANES

A laser particle analyzer was used to study the formation of asphalten e agglomerates from Cold Lake bitumen due to the introduction of paraf finic diluents. The growth of the particles over time was investigated , and it was found that asphaltene particle growth is essentially an i nstantaneous process; that is, the final agglomerate size is reached w ithin 5 seconds. The type of diluent used to precipitate the asphalten es was determined to have a major effect on the size distribution of a sphaltene agglomerates. The average particle size of asphaltene agglom erates ranged from 169 mum for n-hexadecane to 299 mum for n-pentane. A relationship is shown to exist between the average particle size of asphaltene agglomerates and the carbon number of the diluent used.