Neutralization of highly acidic crude oil utilizing 2-methylimidazole in polyethylene glycol solution / Norshahidatul Akmar Mohd Shohaimi and Nur Syafiqah Afiqah Ishak

The naphthenic acids (NA) compound occurs naturally in the acidic crude oil and lead to
corrosion problem in the oil refinery. Various methods can be used to reduce the NAs
concentration in acidic petroleum crude such as catalytic decarboxylation, dilution or caustic
washing but all these methods have its own weaknesses. The main objective of this study is to
reduce total acid number (TAN) value of crude oil through neutralization process using catalyst
and reagents. The parameters studied were catalysts calcination temperature, catalyst loading
and reagent concentration. The acid removal agent used was a mixture of 10% 2-
methylimidazole in polyethylene glycol (PEG) with reagent concentration of 100, 500, 1000
and 1500 ppm. Calcium was chosen as a base for the catalyst while Cu and Ni were used as a
dopant. The potential catalyst was characterized by FTIR and TGA-DTG for its physical and
chemical characteristics. Catalyst with calcination temperature of 1000C, 7 beads of catalyst
loading, 500 ppm of 2-methylimidazole in PEG, reaction temperature (35C) and 5 minutes
reaction times showed 97% deduction of TAN value from 3.93 to 0.13 mg KOH/g.