Monodisperse Thermodynamic Model Based on Chemical + Flory–Hüggins Polymer Solution Theories for Predicting Asphaltene Precipitation

Asphaltene precipitation is traditionally modeled using
the Flory–Hüggins
polymer solution theory. The existing thermodynamic models, generally,
do not take into account the aggregation/association phenomena in
the system. This work aims at providing a monodisperse thermodynamic
model for estimating asphaltene precipitation by taking into account
the aforementioned phenomena. The chemical theory of associated solutions
with physical interactions along with the Flory–Hüggins
polymer solution theory is applied to develop this model. The results
of this method are compared with some selected experimental
data from the literature. It is shown that taking into account the
aggregation/association phenomena in the system can lead to better
predictions of the model. Moreover, it is shown that this method simplifies
to the existing activity coefficient based models when ignoring the association.