Effect of pressure and temperature on colloidal structure of Furrial crudeoil

The small-angle X-ray scattering technique was employed to investigate the colloidal structure of Furrial crude and its evolution as a function of pre ssure and temperature. A pressure cell. with diamond windows and in situ pr essure control was used to perform the pressure study between 1000 and 6000 psi. The temperature effect was examined between ambient and 150 degreesC. While the scattering spectra do not profoundly indicate appreciable change upon increasing pressure, the integrated scattering intensity over the sca ttering vector does indicate a systematic trend of structural dissolution w ith pressure. A polydisperse spherical structural model was applied to anal yze the scattering data. The results revealed a systematic decreasing aggre gate size with increasing pressure while the polydispersity of the aggregat es increases drastically. On the other hand, both size and polydispersity d ecrease when temperature increases (up to 150 degreesC).