Two component model oils for interfacial shear characterization

The impact of interfacial properties on the processing of crude oil/water emulsions has led to increased studies examining films of asphaltene, the most surface active components of crude oil. However, crude has other surface active components. Although asphaltenes create a strong viscoelastic interfacial film at concentrations found in crude, the study of asphaltene films is limited in utility due to differences between their behavior and films composed from crude. However, crude oils are difficult to work with and characterize and are too complex to allow systematic studies. There is a need for more accurate but simple models of crude that could be used in various types of interfacial deformation. In this work, a simple two component model oil comprised asphaltenes, and resins dissolved in toluene's are compared to both crude and single component interfaces undergoing interfacial shear. The two component model interface creates a response qualitatively like crude in both aggregation kinetics and strain sweep, whereas pure resin and asphaltene interfaces behave completely different. By adjusting the relative concentration of resin and asphaltene in the model oil, different types of oil are made that correspond to medium and heavy crudes.