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Petroleum Characterization and Bioprocesses: Numerical and Experimental Investigation (2nd Edition)
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Petroleum Characterization and Bioprocesses: Numerical and Experimental Investigation (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2025 | Viewed by 1655

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Dicho Stratiev

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Guest Editor
1. LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas, 8104 Burgas, Bulgaria
2. Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Academic Georgi Bonchev 105, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
Interests: crude oil; oil characterization; petroleum chemistry; bitumen; heterogeneous catalysis; catalyst characterization; catalyst deactivation; distillation; oxidation; fluid catalytic cracking; hydrocracking; hydrotreting; thermal cracking; blending; modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ivelina Kostova Shishkova

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Guest Editor
LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas, 8104 Burgas, Bulgaria
Interests: petroleum; distillation; catalyst; chemical engineering; gas; petroleum exploration; catalysis; kinetic modeling; porous materials; reactor design
Prof. Dr. Aijun Guo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Department of Applied Chemistry, College of Chemical Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), 66 Changjiang West Road, Qingdao 266580, China
Interests: heavy oil chemistry; innovation of upgrading and processing technologies for heavy oil; heavy oil-related hydrogen technology; carbon materials from heavy oil
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the second volume of "Petroleum Characterization and Bioprocesses: Numerical and Experimental Investigation” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/special_issues/B58S4E3VUG).

Petroleum is a valuable mineral source, rich in hydrocrabons, which, after refining, can be used either as components for the production of internal combustion engine fuels or as feeds for the production of chemicals. While the use of petroleum hydrocarbons as components for internal combustion engine fuels is expected to decrease due to efficiency improvements, advances in clean energy generation and stricter environmental regulations, along with stricter policy and the use of petroleum as a feedstock for chemical production, are expected to increase. Many studies dedicated to the effect that feed quality has on the performance of the petroleum-refining process reported that petroleum feedstock is the single variable that most affects the performance of the oil-refining processes. Therefore, petroleum characterization has pivotal importance where performance optimization of the refining process is concerned. Bioprocesses, due to their versatile nature, can be employed in the production of sustainable energy sources and find applications in many areas of human activity.

The petroleum characterization and bioprocesses can be modeled by the use of different numerical techniques. Nonlinear least-squared methods and meta-heuristic methods, such as artificial neural network, genetic algorithms and ant-colony optimization, least-square support vector machine (LSSVM), radial basis function (RBF) neural network, multilayer perceptron (MLP), support vector regression (SVR), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), decision trees (DTs), random forest (RF), and simulated annealing programming, find application in research on petroleum characterization and bioprocesses.

This Special Issue addresses research in the fields of petroleum fluid characterization and bioprocesses. It aims to collect current work in the field of “Numerical modeling, and experimental investigation in characterization of petroleum and its derivatives, and bioprocesses”. The scope includes cases of investigations on petroleum property relations, the modeling of petroleum properties, the application of different methods for the characterization of petroleum and its derivatives, sustainable fuels, biofuels, petroleum-refining process performance optimization, and bioprocesses.

Prof. Dr. Dicho Stratiev
Dr. Ivelina Kostova Shishkova
Prof. Dr. Aijun Guo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • petroleum
  • crude oil
  • fuel
  • nonlinear least square regression methods
  • meta-heuristic methods
  • energy
  • biofuel
  • bioprocesses

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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15 pages, 1698 KB  
Article
Fluorescence Spectroscopy Applied to Thermal Conversion of Bitumen
by Raj Divyajeetsinh, Lina M. Yañez Jaramillo, Priscila T. H. Nascimento and Arno de Klerk
Processes 2025, 13(9), 2901; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13092901 - 11 Sep 2025
Viewed by 288
Abstract
Phase instability that develops during thermal conversion of heavy oils and bitumen limits the extent of conversion in processes such as visbreaking. It was postulated that aromatic species with conjugated unsaturated systems extending beyond the aromatic rings likely contributed to reactions leading to [...] Read more.
Phase instability that develops during thermal conversion of heavy oils and bitumen limits the extent of conversion in processes such as visbreaking. It was postulated that aromatic species with conjugated unsaturated systems extending beyond the aromatic rings likely contributed to reactions leading to phase instability, fouling, and coking. Many fluorophores have such conjugated π-electron systems. Three case studies were presented where products from thermal conversion were analyzed by fluorescence spectroscopy: (i) Cold Lake bitumen converted at 150–300 °C; (ii) asphaltenes depleted and enriched Athabasca bitumen converted at 380 °C; and (iii) Athabasca bitumen converted at 400 °C and 0.5–4.0 MPa. It was found that the fluorescence intensity of bitumen increased on thermal conversion. Fluorescence intensity increased in relation to reaction time for conversion at 150–300 °C, but it had a weak relationship with temperature. At 380 and 400 °C, this monotonic relationship was no longer apparent. There was no relationship with refractive index. Despite some overlap in fluorescence intensity values, 400 °C converted products obtained at 2.5–4.0 MPa had lower fluorescence intensity than products obtained at 0.5–2.0 MPa. Tentative explanations were offered for these observations. The change in fluorescence intensity with operating conditions and nature of the feed was consistent with the expected free radical concentration associated with the operating conditions and extent of hydrogen transfer. Although the study did not provide proof for the relationship between the fluorescence intensity and the concentration of aromatic species with conjugated unsaturated systems, the experimental observations were congruent with it. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Petroleum Characterization and Bioprocesses: Numerical and Experimental Investigation (2nd Edition))
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15 pages, 3750 KB  
Article
Hydroxyl Group-Dependent Effects of Alkanolamine Additives on Rheology, Hydration, and Performance of Early-Strength Cement Slurries
by Yifei Zhao, Ya Shi, Longjiang Wang, Yan Zhuang, Yongfei Li and Gang Chen
Processes 2025, 13(9), 2681; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13092681 - 23 Aug 2025
Viewed by 501
Abstract
Alkanolamine additives play a critical role in enhancing the early process performance of cement slurries, thereby improving construction efficiency and structural durability. This study systematically evaluates the effects of ethanolamine (EA), diethanolamine (DEA), and triethanolamine (TEA) on cement slurry properties, including the thickening [...] Read more.
Alkanolamine additives play a critical role in enhancing the early process performance of cement slurries, thereby improving construction efficiency and structural durability. This study systematically evaluates the effects of ethanolamine (EA), diethanolamine (DEA), and triethanolamine (TEA) on cement slurry properties, including the thickening time, rheology, density, shrinkage, and hydration kinetics. Clear structure–activity relationships are established based on the findings. The experimental analysis demonstrated that increasing the hydroxyl group count in the alkanolamines significantly accelerated cement hydration. At a dosage of 1.0%, the thickening time of the cement slurry was significantly shortened to 125 min (EA), 15 min (DEA), and 12 min (TEA), respectively. Concomitantly, a reduction in fluidity was observed, with flow diameters measuring 15.8 cm (EA), 14.6 cm (DEA), and 14.1 cm (TEA). The rheological analysis revealed that the alkanolamine additives significantly increased the consistency coefficient (K) and decreased the flowability index (n) of the slurry, with TEA exhibiting the most pronounced effect. The density measurements confirmed the enhanced settlement stability, as the density differences diminished to 0.1 g/cm3 at the optimal dosages (0.6% TEA and 0.8% DEA). The hydration degree analysis indicated a hydration rate acceleration of up to 32% relative to plain slurry, attributed to the hydroxyl-facilitated promotion of Ca(OH)2 formation and C3S dissolution. The XRD analysis confirmed that the alkanolamines modified the reaction kinetics without inducing phase transformation in the hydration products. Crucially, the hydroxyl group count governed the performance: a higher hydroxyl density intensified Ca2+/Al3+ complexation, thereby reducing ion mobility and accelerating setting. These findings establish a molecular design framework for alkanolamine-based additives that balances early process performance development with practical workability. The study advances sustainable cement technology by enabling targeted optimization of rheological and mechanical properties in high-demand engineering applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Petroleum Characterization and Bioprocesses: Numerical and Experimental Investigation (2nd Edition))
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24 pages, 2460 KB  
Article
Catalytic Cracking of Non-Hydrotreated, Hydrotreated and Sulfuric Acid-Treated Vacuum Gas Oils
by Dicho Stratiev
Processes 2025, 13(5), 1351; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13051351 - 28 Apr 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 632
Abstract
The quality of the catalytic cracking feed can affect the conversion by 35%, while the activity of the catalyst can influence the conversion by 11% and the reaction temperature by 15%. The pivotal role of feed quality justifies the investigations directed to better [...] Read more.
The quality of the catalytic cracking feed can affect the conversion by 35%, while the activity of the catalyst can influence the conversion by 11% and the reaction temperature by 15%. The pivotal role of feed quality justifies the investigations directed to better understanding which components of the feed impinge the conversion, yields, selectivity and properties of the catalytic cracking products. In this research, two virgin vacuum gas oils, a hydrotreated vacuum gas oil and five sulfuric acid-treated vacuum gas oils were cracked on a commercial equilibrium catalyst (Nova DAO) in a micro-activity (MAT) unit at different catalyst-to-oil ratios to obtain the conversion, yields, and selectivities at the point of maximum gasoline yield. The treatment of one of the virgin and the hydrotreated vacuum gas oils with sulfuric acid decreased the heavy aromatics from 22.6 to 0.0 wt.% and resins from 2.7 to 0.0 wt.%. Intercriteria analysis of the experimental cracking data revealed that the reduction and removal of the heavy aromatic compounds from the vacuum gas oil had a profound effect on conversion, yields, and gasoline quality. It led to conversion enhancement from 70.8 to 86.1 wt.% and a reduction of gasoline research octane number by two points. The conversion at the maximum gasoline yield was confirmed to be very well predicted by a correlation that includes the empirical parameters aromatic carbon and hydrogen contents with %AAD of 0.7 wt.% and maximum absolute deviation of 2.3 wt.%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Petroleum Characterization and Bioprocesses: Numerical and Experimental Investigation (2nd Edition))
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