The Lightness of Being, The Heaviness of Oil

From Abdulrahman Khateeb, associated with the Clean Combustion Research Center, comes the following interesting article …

///////
Influence Of Asphaltene Concentration On The Combustion Of A Heavy Fuel Oil Droplet
Abdulrahman Khateeb, Ayman M. Elbaz, Paolo Guida, and William L. Roberts
Energy Fuels, Just Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b03260
Publication Date (Web): November 16, 2018
Abstract
Heavy fuel oils consist of a blend of middle distillates, mainly diesel fuel, and heavy oil residuals. Varying the fraction of the mixture changes the weight percentage of the asphaltene in the heavy fuel oil (HFO) sample. Asphaltene is a very high molecular weight complex component in the fuel which increases the fuel viscosity, surface tension, and chemical reaction rate. Here, we investigate the influence of high asphaltene concentration on the combustion of a single HFO droplet. In this experimental work, we used the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and the suspended droplet techniques. We tested HFO samples containing asphaltene at 8, 16, 24 wt% (HFO8, HFO16, and HFO24). The TGA result shows a residual amount of approximately 2.4 wt% of the HFO24 compared to no residuals for the HFO8 at the end of the process. The suspended droplet technique results reveal the following seven consecutive burning stages for the entire burning process of the liquid and solid phases: 1) pre-heating, 2) flame startup, 3) inner evaporation, 4) thermal decomposition, 5) solidification, 6) coke pre-ignition, and 7) smoldering. The temperature range of the various burning stages is seen to be independent of both the concentration of the asphaltene and the initial size of the droplet. On the other hand, both the total burning time and ignition delay time become longer by 40% and 26% respectively as the content of the asphaltene increases from 8 to 24 wt% in the HFO sample. The evolution of the droplet’s size in time shows that the maximum size of the droplet becomes larger by a factor of 2 for the HFO24 compared to the HFO8 sample.
source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b03260
///////

TIP: Add value to the article by Googling the authors’ names and their affilliations.  For example …

Google: Abdulrahman Khateeb

One result is …

///////
Clean Combustion Research Center - Abdulrahman A. Alkhateeb
https://ccrc.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/khateeb.aspx
Home > People > Ph.D. Students > Abdulrahman A. Alkhateeb. Abdulrahman A. Alkhateeb PhD Student. abdulrahman.khateeb@kaust.edu.sa ...

Abdulrahman A. Alkhateeb PhD Student
abdulrahman.khateeb@kaust.edu.sa
Research Interests
HFO Single Droplet Combustion Characterization Analysis.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Education Profile
•B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 2012.
•M.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, 2014.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Professional Profile
•2012-2013: Mechanical Engineer, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
•2014-2016: Fired Equipment Engineer, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KAUST Affiliations
• Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC)
•Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE)
Source: https://ccrc.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/khateeb.aspx
///////

The Two-Step Strategy: Murray Gray Update

“I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood.” -- Bill Watterson (American Author of the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, b.1958)

Researcher Murray Gray and his team in Canada have produced a number of interesting articles and patents over the years pertaining to upgrading Athabasca crude.  One or two posts have appeared in the Desulfurization Blog, but his team is so prolific that I thought it might be time to do an update.

To do so, I used a two-step approach.

STEP 1: Google® Scholar search: (murray gray) AND catalysis
A keyword like catalysis reduces the number of irrelevant hits you will have to wade through.  Substitute any key word you think will work for your purpose.

Peruse the results, noting the permutations of Murray Gray’s name.

STEP 2: Google® Scholar search the permutations, omitting the keyword catalysis so as to produce a comprehensive list of articles and patents authored by Murray Gray.  Your search string will look something like this …

"MR GRAY" OR "gray, murray r" OR "murray.gray"

And here is a handful of recently published articles resulting from the search …

///////

The EmhABC efflux pump decreases the efficiency of phenanthrene biodegradation by Pseudomonas fluorescens strain LP6a
AA Adebusuyi, AY Smith, MR Gray… - Applied microbiology and …, 2012 - Springer
Abstract Pseudomonas fluorescens strain LP6a, designated here as strain WEN (wild-type
PAH catabolism, efflux positive), utilizes the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon phenanthrene
as a carbon source but also extrudes it into the extracellular medium using the efflux pump ...
Cited by 2

Kinetics and Properties of Asphaltene Adsorption on Surfaces
A Zahabi, MR Gray, T Dabros - Energy & Fuels, 2012 - ACS Publications
A quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) was used to probe asphaltene adsorption on gold
surfaces and hydrophilic and hydrophobic silica particles. The adsorption studies were
conducted with solutions of various ratios of pentane solvent to model oil (S/O) and ...
Cited by 2

Incorporation of steroidal biomarkers into petroleum model compounds
A Scherer, F Hampel, MR Gray, JM Stryker… - J. Phys. Org. …, 2012 - Wiley Online Library
The increasing global dependence on fossil fuels combined with decreasing supply is
currently one of the most challenging dilemmas facing future generations. To meet future
energy needs, the use of both renewable energy sources and lowergrade petroleum ...
Cited by 1

Effect of Chemical Structure on the Cracking and Coking of Archipelago Model Compounds Representative of Asphaltenes
…, K Azyat, JM Stryker, RR Tykwinski, MR Gray - Energy & …, 2012 - ACS Publications
Cracking and coke formation of a series of pyrene-based model compounds were
investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and microreactor experiments. The
structure of the model compounds is that of a three-island archipelago, consisting of two ...
Cited by 1

Electrocatalytic hydrogenation of aromatic compounds in ionic liquid solutions over WS< sub> 2
-on-glassy carbon and Raney nickel cathodes
A Tsyganok, CM Holt, S Murphy, D Mitlin, MR Gray - Fuel, 2012 - Elsevier
In order to assess the potential application of electrocatalytic hydrogenation to petroleum
fractions, as an alternative to high-pressure hydrotreating, we studied the conversion of a
series of model compounds. Naphthalene, 1-methyl naphthalene, quinoline, carbazole, ...
Cited by 1

Density Functional Theory Investigation of the Contributions of π–π Stacking and Hydrogen-Bonding Interactions to the Aggregation of Model Asphaltene Compounds
…, SR Stoyanov, S Gusarov, X Tan, MR Gray… - Energy & …, 2012 - ACS Publications
We performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations using the WB97Xd functional with
a dispersion correction term and the 6-31G (d, p) basis set to study the contributions of π–π
stacking and hydrogen-bonding interactions to the aggregation of asphaltene model ...
Cited by 2