Energy Fuels 2010, 24, 2178–2178 Published on Web 01/07/2010
: DOI:10.1021/ef901537q
Tenth International Conference on Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling Received December 15, 2009
This special section of Energy & Fuels contains selected papers from the 10th International Conference on Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling that met on June 14-18, 2009, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the prestigious Sofitel Rio de Janeiro Hotel, with the famous and fabulous beaches of Ipanema on one side and Copacabana on the other. This Petrophase Conference has been meeting since 1999 in such countries as United States, Denmark, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, and France. The 2009 Conference was the first meeting south of the equator and the first in South America. Special events during the Petrophase Conference help to offer a different prospective, to promote interactions, to build friendships, and especially to provide entertainment. In Rio de Janeiro, the special events were riding the cogwheel rail to the top of Corcovado Mountain to see the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and dancing the samba at a chic night spot, the Rio Scenarium. Solids, such as wax and asphaltenes, are in solution and/or dispersion in petroleum but have a tendency to precipitate with changes in temperature and pressure or upon mixing with other petroleum streams. These solid phases can impede or block flow during petroleum production and transport while insulating surfaces from heat transfer during petroleum upgrading and refining. In addition, the formation of stable water-petroleum emulsions can prevent sharp separation of oil and water, such as in desalting. Therefore, one of the objectives of the Petrophase Conferences is to provide a forum for those devoted to learning how to predict when these process problems occur, so that mitigation methods might be devised. Recently, the Petrophase Conference has expanded beyond its roots in petroleum phase behavior. Now this Conference has also become the premier event for attracting the world’s experts on the molecular structure and physical interactions of the larger molecules in petroleum. The complexity and wide diversity of petroleum macromolecules lead to uncertainty that stimulates vigorous scientific discussion with a multiplicity of views. At the 2009 Conference, this vigorous discussion moved from asphaltenes to the resin fraction. At this point, there seems to be more challenges to the previous concepts of resins than to building new concepts that more could accept. This 2009 Petrophase Conference attracted about 200 scientists and engineers from most countries involved in petroleum research. The technical program included 106 poster presentations in two sessions and 49 oral presentations in six sessions: asphaltenes; standardization of petroleum fractions; emulsions; refining, upgrading, and fouling; wax; and flow assurance. The keynote address for the Conference was presented by Antonio Capeleiro Pinto, and the keynote addresses for the oral sessions were given by Jill Buckley, Oliver Mullins, Daniel Merino-Garcia, Jan Czarnecki, Simon Andersen, Honggang Zhou, and Ricardo Camargo. Thanks to the Conference Chair, Gaspar Gonzalez, and to the Technical Chair, Claudio Ziglio, for their hard work in making the Conference a success. We are also grateful to the sponsors of the Conference: Petrobras, Baker Hughes, Repsol, Schlumberger, Nalco, ExxonMobil, Mettler Toledo, Clariant, and IFP. Special appreciation goes to the Session Co-chairs: George Hirasaki, David Jennings, Simon Andersen, John Shaw, Irwin Wiehe, Howard Freund, Steve Allenson, Harvey Yarranton, Frans van den Berg, and Jill Buckley. Especially, we thank the authors whose papers form this special section. The next conference, the 11th International Conference on Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling, is scheduled to be held on June 13-17, 2010, on the waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from New York City. Irwin Wiehe* Conference Co-Chair Soluble Solutions, Gladstone, New Jersey 07934
r 2010 American Chemical Society
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pubs.acs.org/EF
