It is well established that the heavy oil components including asphaltenes and resins play vital roles on 46
the interfacial tension (IFT) of acidic crude oil (ACO) and aqueous solutions. Therefore, this experimental 47
work is designed to investigate the possible synergism between salt ions, resin, and asphaltene on the IFT 48
of ACO/low and high salinity brines containing MgCl2/NaCl and CaCl2. The results demonstrate that a 49
complex ion of MgCl2 – resin component created in the solution could occupy the sites at the interface 50
at high MgCl2 concentration. However, the results show that on the contrary, the molecular arrangement 51
of MgCl2 and asphaltene at low and high MgCl2 concentration could be broken as the CaCl2 is able to 52
hackle the molecular management due to the high affinity of Ca 53 2+ to asphaltene molecules compared
to that of Mg 54 2+.
