Recently, different investigations have been performed to study the inhibiting effect of metal nanoparticles, which have shown high competence in delaying the onset of asphaltene precipitation. The goal of this work is to investigate the effect of Fe₃O₄ metal nanoparticles on the size variation of asphaltene aggregates. The size distribution of three types of asphaltenes at different heptane to toluene (heptol) volume ratios was analyzed using dynamic light scattering technique immediately after the separation of nanoparticles. With the successive increase of heptol volume ratio, the size distribution ranges of asphaltenes moved to higher values. The particle size of asphaltene A was more sensitive to heptol addition. The aggregate size showed a rise from 72 to 5600 nm when the heptol ratio increased from 0 to 40%. Fe3O4 nanoparticle presence reduced asphaltenes A and B aggregate size, inhibiting large particle formation. The mean particle size of asphaltene A reduced 37% for nanoparticle dosage of 0.1 wt% and heptol ratio of 40%. However, the size of asphaltene C aggregates did not significantly change. The results showed that the aromaticity of asphaltenes followed the trend of asphaltene A > asphaltene B > asphaltene C, indicating the inhibiting effect of nanoparticles for more aromatic asphaltene. The inhibiting effect of nanoparticles attributes to the adsorption of asphaltene on the surface of nanoparticles. With increasing the aromatic character, the self-association of asphaltene particles and interactions between the aromatic core of asphaltene and Fe atoms rise, which increases the adsorption of asphaltene.

近来，已经进行了不同的研究来研究金属纳米颗粒的抑制作用，这些金属纳米颗粒已显示出在延迟沥青质沉淀开始方面的高能力。这项工作的目的是研究Fe ₃ O ₄的作用。金属纳米颗粒对沥青质聚集体尺寸的影响。分离纳米颗粒后，立即使用动态光散射技术分析了不同庚烷与甲苯（庚醇）体积比下三种沥青质的尺寸分布。随着庚醇体积比的不断增加，沥青质的尺寸分布范围逐渐增大。沥青质A的粒度对庚醇的添加更敏感。当庚醇比例从0％增加到40％时，聚集体尺寸从72 nm增加到5600 nm。Fe3O4纳米颗粒的存在减少了沥青质A和B的聚集体尺寸，从而抑制了大颗粒的形成。沥青质A的平均粒径对于0.1 wt％的纳米颗粒剂量和40％的庚醇比率降低了37％。然而，沥青质C聚集体的尺寸没有明显变化。结果表明，沥青质的芳构性遵循沥青质A>沥青质B>沥青质C的趋势，表明纳米粒子对更多芳烃沥青质的抑制作用。纳米颗粒的抑制作用归因于沥青质在纳米颗粒表面上的吸附。随着芳族特性的增加，沥青质颗粒的自缔合以及沥青质芳族核与Fe原子之间的相互作用增加，从而增加了沥青质的吸附。纳米颗粒的抑制作用归因于沥青质在纳米颗粒表面上的吸附。随着芳族特性的增加，沥青质颗粒的自缔合以及沥青质芳族核与Fe原子之间的相互作用增加，从而增加了沥青质的吸附。纳米颗粒的抑制作用归因于沥青质在纳米颗粒表面上的吸附。随着芳族特性的增加，沥青质颗粒的自缔合以及沥青质芳族核与Fe原子之间的相互作用增加，从而增加了沥青质的吸附。