| Abstract: | A laser particle analyzer was used to study the formation of asphaltene agglomerates from Cold Lake bitumen due to the introduction of paraffinic diluents. The growth of the particles over time was investigated, and it was found that asphaltene particle growth is essentially an instantaneous process; that is, the final agglomerate size is reached within 5 seconds. The type of diluent used to precipitate the asphaltenes was determined to have a major effect on the size distribution of asphaltene agglomerates. The average particle size of asphaltene agglomerates ranged from 169 ptn for n-hexadecane to 299m 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. |
