VOLUME 22, NUMBER 2
MARCH/APRIL 2008
Copyright 2008 by the American Chemical Society
Editorial Eighth International Conference on Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling Petroleum and natural gas are complex fluids containing many components ranging from low to high molecular weight compounds. Some of these components are soluble in the fluid under reservoir conditions but may precipitate as solid materials such as wax, asphaltene, naphtenate, or diamondoids during production, transportation, and refining. The formation and the deposition of these solids on process equipment walls may hinder or eventually totally block the production. Moreover, solids may stabilize water–oil emulsions leading to difficulties in separating these immiscible phases. Futhermore, in heavy oils and extra heavy oils, the presence of high molecular weight components in significant content leads to high viscosity which prevents the flow of fluids. Thus, understanding the influence of heavy components on oil properties as well as on solid formation and deposition is a key point for flow assurance. With this aim in mind, the conference on Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling has been organized each year alternatively in North America and in Europe since 1999. The eighth of this series of international conferences was held on June 10–14, 2007, in Pau (France). The objective of this conference was to provide a forum for academic and industrial researchers to meet and exchange ideas, problems, and findings in the phase behavior of petroleum from downhole to refining products. Topics of interest were the following: Heavy Oils and Extra Heavy Oils Asphaltenes and Petroleum Macromolecules Naphthenates and Naphthenic Acids Wax Thermodynamics and Deposition Physics and Chemistry of Petroleum-Water Emulsions Mechanisms and Mitigation of Fouling in Production and Refining The conference brought together 200 engineers and researchers from various countries including, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Spain, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela. The format of the conference was chosen in order to have no parallel session. Consequently, the number of presentations was limited to 4 keynote lectures, 55 oral presentations and 80 posters. This special issue of Energy & Fuels contains selected papers presented at the conference in order to show the advancement of the research in the area of petroleum phase behavior and fouling. I would like to thank, here, the conference organizing committee for their work in making a conference a real success: S. I. Andersen (Haldor Topsoe), A. Baylaucq (University of Pau), M. Bourrel (TOTAL Petrochemicals), H. Carrier (University of Pau), C. Hurtevent (TOTAL), M. Maguerez (TOTAL), J. Pauly (University of Pau), and I. Wiehe (Soluble Solutions). Thanks also goes to the sponsors of the conference: CECA, Champion Technologies, Formulaction, IFP, REP, REPSOL YPF, Schlumberger, STATOIL, and TOTAL. 10.1021/ef800020j CCC: $40.75 2008 American Chemical Society Published on Web 03/19/2008
696 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 22, No. 2, 2008
The next conference, the Ninth International Conference on Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling, is now scheduled to be held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on June 15-19, 2008 (www.petrophase.ca) and promises to continue the understanding of phase behavior of petroleum complex systems. Jean Luc Daridon UniVersity of Pau, France Conference Chair EF800020J
