Studies on the effect of sulfonate based ionic liquids on asphaltenes

• [MTOA][DDS] ionic liquid was able to limit the growth of asphaltenes aggregates by reducing the size of the aggregates. • The polydispersity of the aggregates with these IL was very high. • The [MTOA][DDS] could also improve the asphaltene stabilization. • Being a green solvent, [MTOA][DDS] has the potential to be applied as asphaltenes dispersant. Deposition of asphaltenes precipitates potentially clog the oil well, block the production pipelines and causes catalyst deactivation during refining of the crude. Hence, remediation of the asphaltenes deposition is warranted. Different types of chemicals have been investigated and applied to act as an asphaltenes stabilisers, either by means of inhibition, dispersant or both. In this paper, the effect of three different sulfonate ionic liquids (ILs) towards asphaltenes particles in toluene: heptane mixture was investigated. The characteristics of asphaltenes isolated form the crude oil before and after treatment with ILs was studied. Asphaltenes aggregation and kinetics were further investigated with dodecylsulfate [DDS] coupled with hydrophobic moiety on the anion. The results showed that methyltrioctylammonium dodecylsulfate [MTOA][DDS] was able to limit the growth of asphaltenes aggregates by reducing the size of the aggregates, hence showing the potential of [MTOA][DDS] to be applied as asphaltenes dispersant.