VOLUME 19, NUMBER 4
JULY/AUGUST 2005
© Copyright 2005 American Chemical Society
Petroleum Phase Behavior Special Issue Introduction Fifth International Conference on Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling This special issue of Energy and Fuels contains selected papers from the Fifth International Conference on Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling that met on June 13-17, 2004 in the scenic Canadian Rockies at Banff. This Conference followed successful conferences on this subject held in Houston, Copenhagen, New Orleans, and Trondheim, Norway, with plans to meet in Amsterdam on June 19-23, 2005. The 2004 Conference drew about 170 people from 15 different countries to discuss the advances in the science of petroleum phase behavior and water emulsion formation and their application to mitigate petroleum fouling and petroleum-water emulsion formation in both petroleum production and refining operations. Since this Conference attracts participants from many international locations with diverse backgrounds, the reader of this issue obtains the current status in this field from the world’s experts from universities, from government laboratories, from petroleum operating companies, and from petroleum service companies. Petroleum has a tendency to deposit solids, such as asphaltenes and wax, and to form stable emulsions with water. These impede processing of oil in production, in transportation to refineries, and in most refining and upgrading processes. Thus, it was appropriate for the world’s experts in petroleum phase behavior and in petroleum-water emulsions to publish in one issue, along with those struggling with petroleum processing problems. In this way, the most recent advances in understanding are integrated to devise creative solutions and tools. Equally as important is the communication of new problems and challenges in petroleum processing that highlighted the need and the direction to develop more understanding. Thanks to the Conference Organizing Committee for their hard work in making the Conference a success: Ahmed Hammami (Conference Chair), Jan Czarnecki (Technical Program Chair), Hassan Hamza (Technical Program Co-Chair), Shawn Taylor, (Technical Program Co-Chair), Murray Gray (Secretary), Anil Mehrotra (Treasurer), William Power (Registration/Events), Jacob Masliyah (Sponsor Liaison), and John M. Shaw (Publicity). Special appreciation also goes to the session organizers: Jill Buckley (Asphaltenes), Johan Sjoblom (Water Emulsions), Peter Kilpatrick (Characterization), Klaus Weispfennig (Wax), Murray Gray (Fouling in Refining), Harvey Yarranton (Fouling during Production), and Shawn Taylor (Posters). We are especially grateful to the authors whose papers form this special issue. Irwin Wiehe Soluble Solutions Conference Co-Chair EF050100W 10.1021/ef050100w CCC: $30.25 © 2005 American Chemical Society Published on Web 07/20/2005
