Materials and nanomaterials for the removal of heavy oil components

Advances in technologies for a variety of materials adsorbing asphaltenes have a great importance in the hydrocarbon industry because of several problems, in particular the decrease of yields in oil extraction. For asphaltene remediation, a series of minerals and materials (feldspar, clays, quartz, montmorillonites, kaolinite, illite), several metals (Fe, Al, Ni), oxides (Fe2O3, Fe3O4, TiO2, SiO2), inorganic salts (CaCO3, BaSO4, FeS), and nanomaterials (on the basis of metals and their oxides) are applied. This article generalizes available materials for asphaltene removal, comparing conditions of their adsorption capacities, providing a view of the variables and emphasizing main trends of their use.