Patent ID: 7360403

Claim:
A method for measuring the agglomerative state of asphaltenes in oil containing asphaltenes, comprising applying to the oil a series of pulses of acoustic energy, each pulse comprising acoustic energy at multiple frequencies, thereby scattering at least part of the energy; detecting, for each of a plurality of pulses in the series, the scattered acoustic energy to produce amplitude versus time data, wherein the detecting is carried out by at least one sensor which sensor is separate from a signal input probe and wherein the signal input probe and the sensor are located so that the signal direction of the probe intersects the signal direction of the sensor at an angle of less than about 90°; resolving the amplitude versus time data to obtain a magnitude of the detected scattered acoustic energy at selected frequencies; averaging over the plurality of pulses the magnitude for each pulse at each selected frequency; and determining from the averaging the agglomerative state of the asphaltenes.