POLYDISPERSITY ANALYSIS OF ASPHALTENE SOLUTIONS IN TOLUENE

We performed a series of small angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements on asphaltene solutions in toluene at various temperatures to study the structure and polydispersity of asphaltene colloids. In order to extract the polydispersity unambiguously, we developed a method to self-consistently evaluate our analysis. From our polydispersity analysis we found that the SANS data were best interpreted using a spherical model for particle structure and a Schultz distribution for particle sizes. A possible thermodynamic origin of the polydispersity is suggested. © 1992.