This book represents an amalgam of objectives related to the study of petroleum at many,diverselevels. Themostimportantattributeanythrivingtechnical?eldmust have is an injection and infusion of dedicated, expert, young scientists who have absorbed from their elders the fascination of scienti?c mystery coupled with the fundamental satisfaction of revelation and providing contribution. And, of course, these youthful practitioners must also learn to challenge the authority of their - ders. Fromexperienceswithmyownstudents,thisseemsnottobeaproblem. Many chapters in this book are coauthored by young scientists yielding the prognosis of continued health of our scienti?c ?eld. Indeed, I am quite proud that several of my own chapters in this book are coauthored with students and young engineers of enormous capability. It is a humbling honor to help delineate direction of this formidable talent. It is incumbent upon my generation of scientists to provide a vision of the future. In this book, weconnect the scienti?c excellence of the past with a vision for petroleum science, Petroleomics. Medical science of the past has been of singular societal focus with scienti?c discoveries of enormous import. Nevertheless,Genomicsisrevolutionaryinthatcausalrelationsinmedicalscience are being established with scienti?c exactitude and fundamental understanding. Genomics is creating a predictive medical science that was but a dream for p- vious generations. In a similar way, scienti?c advances described in this book are laying the foundations for Petroleomics-the challenge and framework to agitate ouryouthfulcontributors. Petroleomicsembodiestheestablishmentofstructure- function relations in petroleum science with particular focus on asphaltenes, the most enigmatic of petroleum components.
Petroleomics is the prediction of all properties of petroleum based on the Petroleome, or complete listing of all components in a given crude oil. As it is developed, petroleomics will lead petroleum science into a bright new future, and it is the major focus of this book. A necessary step has been to resolve the molecular size and structure of asphaltene and its hierarchical aggregate structures, as well as the dynamics of asphaltenes. This is especially important for heavy oils. Flow assurance concerns and interfacial science are also treated. The technological development of downhole fluid analysis addresses the most important issues in deepwater production of oil.
Petroleum science and technology are treated in a vertically integrated manner. This book is indispensable for the scientist concerned with petroleum, heavy oils, interfacial science, or flow assurance. Science and technology are treated seamlessly; thus this book will also greatly benefit technologists who areconcerned with the production of oil, refining of oil, or heavy oil processing.
