Petroleum Consulting Company
Fouling Mitigation ... Resid Conversion

Ability to diagnose, to treat, and to cure petroleum fouling and coking problems from the reservoir through the refinery based upon 25 years of basic research with direct refinery applications. A top petroleum scientist with experience bridging the gap to direct refinery applications. Capability to create simple models of complex systems and use them to devise counter-intuitive solutions to problems. Successful record of research accomplishments and innovations in the petroleum and polymer industries. A leader in the development of technical programs for professional societies. For more details on areas of expertise: Click on pictures at bottom of this page.

New Book Authored by Dr. Irv

• Dr. Irv Has Written a New Book, Process Chemistry of Petroleum Macromolecules, on heavy oil upgrading and petroleum fouling mitigation Published in June, 2008 by CRC Press. See Flyer Describing This Book

• Order Dr. Irv's book and receive a 25% Discount and free shipping by ordering through the CRC Press website and by inserting the code, 229LC, at checkout. Offer valid through June 2009

Dr. Irv Honored by AIChE in 2007

• 2007 Fuels and Petrochemicals Distinguished Service Award Sponsored by Tyco Thermal Controls (see the AIChE FPD website for more details)

• Elected An AIChE Fellow (see here)

Purchasing Opportunity Crudes? Get Help in Anticipating and Solving Crude Fouling, Coking, and Water Emulsion Problems before they Happen.
Today, with the high cost of crude oils refineries cannot afford to pass up purchasing lower cost, opportunity crude oils. However, purchasing the wrong crude oil can cause stable water emulsions in the desalter, foul preheat exchangers, and/or coke up pipestill furnace tubes. If this happens, refineries can lose more than the advantage of purchasing the crude. Therefore, have your prospective crudes tested by Soluble Solutions to determine in advance if they will cause emulsion, fouling, and/or coking problems. Rely on the techniques, models, and understanding of Dr. Irv, the one who first discovered that crudes can be incompatible on blending. Now, Dr. Irv has discovered that crudes can be self-incompatible and can even foul if they are barely compatible. Thus, it is even more important to have prospective crudes tested by Soluble Solutions to assure that your purchase decision results in an economic success and not a costly mistake. (See: World Refining, Oct. 2001, Pages 24-28)

Crude Oil Incompatibility on Blending
When crude oils are blended in the wrong proportions or even the wrong order, they can precipitate asphaltenes (called incompatibility). Once precipitated, it is difficult to redissolve asphaltenes quickly. Meanwhile, precipitated asphaltenes can cause stable oil-water emulsions, fouling of heat exchangers, and catastrophic coking of distillation furnace tubes. Although most crude oils are compatible on blending, the numbers of pairs of incompatible crudes are above 500. Any refinery that actively purchases opportunity crudes has probably already processed incompatible crudes. Dr. Irv not only was the first to offer scientific proof that incompatible crudes exist but he was the first to develop tests for individual crudes and a solution thermodynamic model that can predict which blends of any number of crudes are incompatible. These have been published in two papers in the first issue of Energy and Fuels of the new millennium (Jan. 2000, pp 56-59 and 60-63). More important, it is clear that Soluble Solutions is the place to contact before purchasing any new crudes in the future. Only Dr. Irv can anticipate and solve crude oil fouling problems before they happen.

Self-Incompatible Crudes
There exist a few (more than 20) crude oils that are actively traded that contain insoluble asphaltenes even without blending with other crudes. Thus, these high fouling crudes should either be declined for purchase or processed in special ways to redissolve the asphaltenes. Again, Dr. Irv was the first to discover self-incompatible crudes. However, his present tests are set-up to detect self-incompatible crudes as well as incompatibility from blending crudes. This topic was first presented by Dr. Irv at the United Engineering Foundation Conference on Heat Exchanger Fouling in Devos, Switzerland on July 12, 2001. Nevertheless, refineries are purchasing self-incompatible crudes every day. By sending Soluble Solutions a sample of a crude before purchase, you can avoid your refinery from being one of those.

Barely Compatible Crude Oils
Dr. Irv has discovered that either individual crudes or crude blends can be moderately fouling if they are barely compatible. This is because asphaltenes in such crudes still have a strong tendency to adsorb on metal surfaces to cause fouling and at water interfaces to form stable emulsions. Fortunately, Dr. Irv’s tests and model can be used to measure the distance from incompatibility and predict if this type of fouling and emulsion formation is to be expected. A paper on this topic was presented by Dr. Irv at the Second International Conference on Petroleum and Gas Phase Behavior and Fouling in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 27 - 31, 2000. Click here to download a copy of this paper

Need more Information on Crudes?
Contact PetroTech Intel to order custom crude assays, to use PTI's Crude Information Management System (CIMS), or to get PTI Intelligence Reports.

Got a Refinery Fouling Problem? Contact Soluble Solutions for the Answer.
There is a 90% chance that a refinery fouling problem is one of the six most common causes that can be quickly diagnosed by analysis of the foulant and oil flowing through the fouled unit. If it is one of the 10% less common causes, the fouling problem will still be diagnosed by a systematic procedure that may take a little longer. Once diagnosed, foulant precursors are traced to the source to arrive to a number of possible mitigation actions. The refinery then selects the one best suited to them. For more details Dr. Irv recently presented a paper on "The Chemistry of Petroleum Fouling" in the 4th International Conference on Refinery Processing at the AIChE 2001 Spring National Meeting in Houston on April 24. Click here to download a copy of this paper Download time: 2 mins for 56k

Need Training in Resid Conversion Chemistry and/or Fouling Mitigation?
Dr. Irv will custom design a one – three day course for you that could include lab training as well as lecture. Dr. Irv will include software for making a notebook for each student of presentation slides and written summaries. As of January 1, 2009, Dr. Irv has taught 28 short courses for 21 institutions in 9 countries and 4 continents.

International Meeting Founded by Dr. Irv
10th Petrophase Conference: on June 14-18, 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the Hotel Sofitel Rio de Janeiro on the famous Copacabana Beach. Check the website for Call for Papers, Registration, and other information on the 10th International Conference on Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling