Thermogravimetric assessment of thermal degradation in asphaltenes

- Asphaltenes content of visbreaking streams in oil refinery can be measured by using TGA.
- Deconvoluting TGA curves allows the thermal-based composition of asphaltenes to be elucidated.
- Asphaltenes cracking involves acceleratory stages compatible with autocatalytic kinetic.
- Activation energy during asphaltenes pyrolysis increased with increasing temperature.
- Activation energy remained almost constant at 200-225 kJ/mol during oxidative cracking.