Bio Solvent EOR: Performance Assessment of Plant Extracts as Asphaltene Inhibitor

Oil production, transportation and refinery are important processes for oil industry because this is where they make profit for their investment. However, change in pressure, temperature and CO2 injection will affect the composition of hydrocarbon which will lead to the formation of asphaltene. Deposition of asphaltene in near wellbore region, production tubing and production facilities will cause severe effect in oil recovery process due to reduction in oil flow. Physical removal of asphaltene deposition is not a favorable option due to uneconomical and costly process. A more favorable option is to prevent the asphaltene from precipitation by using inhibitor. The main objective of this experiment is to examine the performance of green solvent as asphaltene inhibitor and compared with commercial inhibitor, Duo Benzene Sulphonic Acid (DBSA). Based on reported works, amphiphile and phenolic compound have the ability to inhibit asphaltene. Green plants that have those components are coconut, olive, palm, green tea, cinnamon and lemon grass. Different parameters are tested during deposit level test such as solvent type, concentration and contact time between oil and solvent. Then turbidity and Uv-Vis are used to analyze the data. Based on the experiments, coconut oil shows the best result in reducing asphaltene deposit level when compare with other green inhibitors. The green solvent can have the same performance as DBSA if high dosage of solvent is used.