Patent ID: 7223603

Claim:
A method of assessing immediacy of a petroleum residuum to formation of coke particles in refinery processing comprising the steps of: a. providing an ultrasonic waveform generator; b. thermally treating said petroleum residuum; c. interacting at least one ultrasonic waveform from said ultrasonic waveform generator with said petroleum residuum; d. detecting at least one ultrasonic waveform characteristic of said at least one ultrasonic waveform after passing through said petroleum residuum; e. comparing said at least one ultrasonic waveform characteristic with a predetermined ultrasonic waveform characteristic that correlates to an onset of coke particle formation, wherein said predetermined ultrasonic waveform characteristic is determined for a test sample based on analysis selected from a group consisting of: at least one coke index, precipitation of coke, filtration, gravimetric, asphaltene flocculation titration, p a /C min , ratio of a weight percent of a cyclohexane soluble portion of heptane asphaltenes to a weight percent of heptane asphaltenes, solubility characteristics of asphaltenes, values of a weight percent of a cyclohexane soluble portion of heptane asphaltenes, pyrolysis time, relative viscosity, K S values, K F values, K values, and observing the test sample; and f. assessing immediacy of said petroleum residuum to formation of coke particles.