Abstract:
One of the most widely used plastics in the world’s rapidly urbanizing
population is polyethylene (PE). Globally, there is a growing demand for plastics.
Polyethylene plastics do pollute and harm the environment. Although polyethylene is said
to be nonbiodegradable, any chemical deterioration can take hundreds of years. This study
intends to improve the crude oil property, precisely its pour point, by using polyethylene
derived from waste products with magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and applying it to heavy
and light crude oils. Forty crude oil samples were prepared by changing the PE additive
concentration from 0.25 to 2% with 0−2.0% MNP concentration. Dynamic light scattering
(DLS), gas chromatography, and photomicrographic techniques were employed during the
study. DLS results revealed that nanoparticles of heavy (B) crude oil have bigger particle
sizes than light (A) crude oil samples, and the overall distribution of the added
nanoparticles was much better in light crude oil than in heavy crude oil. The
photomicrographic results revealed that the treated samples using additives provided a
significant wax crystal reduction compatible with the provided pour point results. The
prepared sample of the treated light (A) crude oil provided a more extraordinary rheology performance than the heavy (B) crude oil.
Moreover, prepared crude oil samples with PE additives and MNPs are effective as pour point depressants.
