Abstract

MARIN VELASQUEZ, Tomás Darío. Coconut oil (Cocos nucifera) as a stabilizer of asphaltene in a oil of the Monagas State, Venezuela: effect of temperature. Ing. Desarro. [online]. 2019, vol.37, n.2, pp.289-305. ISSN 0122-3461.  https://doi.org/10.14482/inde.37.2.1627.

This research presents the results of the application of coconut oil (Cocos nucifera), as a stabilizer of asphaltenes and the effect of warming on their performance, in a sample of Monagas state oil, Venezuela. The coconut oil was subjected to 11 temperatures between 25 and 200° C, and then 12 mixtures with diesel oil were prepared. The flocculation onset of the asphaltenes was determined to samples of 10 mL of petroleum dosed with 8µL of each mixture, applying successive volumes of n-heptane until observing the aggregates in an optical microscope and the dispersion point applying successive volumes of Xylene up to observe the dissolution of the aggregates. The Instability Index was determined as the ratio between the dispersion point and the flocculation onset. ANOVA analysis was applied to establish the significance of the effect of temperature on the Stability Index. It was concluded that mixtures of coconut oil and diesel increase the stability of asphaltenes when applied to the oil sample, however the temperature has a statistically significant effect. The effect of the oil was positive until the sample heated to 130 °C, losing its effect from that temperature.

Keywords : asphaltene; Cocos nucifera; dispersant; flocculation; instability; temperature.

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