Biodiesel as Dispersant to Improve the Stability of Asphaltene in Marine Very-Low-Sulfur Fuel Oil

作者：Daping Zhou, Haijun Wei, Zhiwen Tan, Shuye Xue, Ye Qiu, Shen Wu · 发表于：Journal of Marine Science and Engineering · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.3390/jmse11020315 · 被引用次数：13 · 研究领域：Petroleum Processing and Analysis、Biodiesel Production and Applications、Heat transfer and supercritical fluids

Since the implementation of the sulfur cap legislation in 2020, marine very-low-sulfur fuel oil, often known as VLSFO, has become a crucial source of fuel for the contemporary shipping industry. However, both the production and utilization processes of VLSFO are plagued by the poor miscibility of the cutter fraction and the residual fraction, which can result in the precipitation of asphaltene. In this study, biodiesel was chosen as a cutter fraction to improve the stability and compatibility of asphaltene in VLSFO because of its environmental benefit and strong solubility. The average chemical structure of asphaltene derived from the marine low-sulfur fuel oil sample was analyzed using element analysis, FTIR, 1HNMR, and time-flight spectroscopy. The composition of biodiesel was analyzed using GC-MS. It was found that the asphaltene had a feature of a short side chain, low H/C ratio, high aromaticity, and a high proportion of heteroatoms. Both laboratory experiments and molecular dynamic simulations were applied to investigate the dispersion effect and mechanism compared with other dispersants. The dispersion effect of biodiesel was studied using measurements of the initial precipitation point (IPP), dispersion improvement rate, and morphology of asphaltene in the model oil. Experimental results revealed that biodiesel was fully compatible with heavy fuel oil and that it can postpone the IPP from 46% to 54% and increase the dispersion improvement rate to 35%. Molecular dynami...