Michael R Kimbrell

US Patent:

20040121472, Jun 24, 2004

Filed:

Dec 19, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/326792

Inventors:

Sailendra Nemana - Carmichael CA, US
Michael Kimbrell - Huntington Beach CA, US
Eugene Zaluzec - Garden Grove CA, US

International Classification:

G01N035/08

US Classification:

436/055000

Abstract:

A method for blending at least two hydrocarbon liquids, the method comprising: (a) determining the critical solvent power for each hydrocarbon liquid by (i) mixing each hydrocarbon liquid with predetermined amounts of a paraffin; (ii) centrifuging each resulting mixture; (iii) recovering and weighing any resulting precipitated insolubles from step (ii); and (iv) correlating the weight of the insolubles in step (iii) to the solvent power at which asphaltenes begin to precipitate out of the hydrocarbon; (b) determining the solvent power for each hydrocarbon liquid by: (i) determining the distillation curve and density of each hydrocarbon liquid; (ii) numerically integrating the distillation curve of each hydrocarbon liquid, producing the volume average boiling point for each hydrocarbon liquid; (iii) calculating the characterization K factor for each hydrocarbon liquid using the volume average boiling point in step (ii); and (iv) determining the solvent power of each hydrocarbon liquid using the characterization K factor in step (iii), wherein heptane and toluene are used as solvent power references wherein heptane has a solvent power of zero and toluene has a solvent power of 100; and (c) blending the each crude oil into each other producing a crude oil blend wherein the solvent power of the crude oil blend is greater than the critical solvent power of the crude oil having the highest critical solvent power in the blend.