scholarly journals Upgrading of Extra-Heavy Crude Oils by Dispersed Injection of NiO–PdO/CeO2±δ Nanocatalyst-Based Nanofluids in the Steam

Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar E. Medina ◽  
Cristina Caro-Vélez ◽  
Jaime Gallego ◽  
Farid B. Cortés ◽  
Sergio H. Lopera ◽  
...  

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the injection of a dispersed nanocatalyst-based nanofluid in a steam stream for in situ upgrading and oil recovery during a steam injection process. The nanocatalyst was selected through adsorption and thermogravimetric experiments. Two nanoparticles were proposed, ceria nanoparticles (CeO2±δ), with and without functionalization with nickel, and palladium oxides (CeNi0.89Pd1.1). Each one was employed for static tests of adsorption and subsequent decomposition using a model solution composed of n-C7 asphaltenes (A) and resins II (R) separately and for different R:A ratios of 2:8, 1:1, and 8:2. Then, a displacement test consisting of three main stages was successfully developed. At the beginning, steam was injected into the porous media at a temperature of 210 °C, the pore and overburden pressure were fixed at 150 and 800 psi, respectively, and the steam quality was 70%. This was followed by CeNi0.89Pd1.1 dispersed injection in the steam stream. Finally, the treatment was allowed to soak for 12 h, and the steam flooding was carried out again until no more oil production was observed. Among the most relevant results, functionalized nanoparticles achieved higher adsorption of both fractions as well as a lower decomposition temperature. The presence of resins did not affect the amount of asphaltene adsorption over the evaluated materials. The catalytic activity suggests that the increase in resin content promotes a higher conversion in a shorter period of time. Also, for the different steps of the dynamic test, increases of 25% and 42% in oil recovery were obtained for the dispersed injection of the nanofluid in the steam stream and after a soaking time of 12 h, compared with the base curve with only steam injection, respectively. The upgraded crude oil reached an API gravity level of 15.9°, i.e., an increase in 9.0° units in comparison with the untreated extra-heavy crude oil, which represents an increase of 130%. Also, reductions of up to 71% and 85% in the asphaltene content and viscosity were observed.

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1009
Author(s):  
Luisana Cardona ◽  
Oscar E. Medina ◽  
Santiago Céspedes ◽  
Sergio H. Lopera ◽  
Farid B. Cortés ◽  
...  

This work focuses on evaluating the effect of the steam quality on the upgrading and recovering extra-heavy crude oil in the presence and absence of two nanofluids. The nanofluids AlNi1 and AlNi1Pd1 consist of 500 mg·L−1 of alumina doped with 1.0% in mass fraction of Ni (AlNi1) and alumina doped with 1.0% in mass fraction of Ni and Pd (AlNi1Pd1), respectively, and 1000 mg·L−1 of tween 80 surfactant. Displacement tests are done in different stages, including (i) basic characterization, (ii) waterflooding, (iii) steam injection at 0.5 quality, (iv) steam injection at 1.0 quality, (v) batch injection of nanofluids, and (vi) steam injection after nanofluid injection at 0.5 and 1.0 qualities. The steam injection is realized at 210 °C, the reservoir temperature is fixed at 80 °C, and pore and overburden pressure at 1.03 MPa (150 psi) and 5.51 MPa (800 psi), respectively. After the steam injection at 0.5 and 1.0 quality, oil recovery is increased 3.0% and 7.0%, respectively, regarding the waterflooding stage, and no significant upgrade in crude oil is observed. Then, during the steam injection with nanoparticles, the AlNi1 and AlNi1Pd1 increase the oil recovery by 20.0% and 13.0% at 0.5 steam quality. Meanwhile, when steam is injected at 1.0 quality for both nanoparticles evaluated, no incremental oil is produced. The crude oil is highly upgraded for the AlNi1Pd1 system, reducing oil viscosity 99%, increasing the American Petroleum Institute (API)° from 6.9° to 13.3°, and reducing asphaltene content 50% at 0.5 quality. It is expected that this work will eventually help understand the appropriate conditions in which nanoparticles should be injected in a steam injection process to improve its efficiency in terms of oil recovery and crude oil quality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 931 (1) ◽  
pp. 012002
Author(s):  
A Pituganova ◽  
I Minkhanov ◽  
A Bolotov ◽  
M Varfolomeev

Abstract Thermal enhanced oil recovery techniques, especially steam injection, are the most successful techniques for extra heavy crude oil reservoirs. Steam injection and its variations are based on the decrease in oil viscosity with increasing temperature. The main objective of this study is the development of advanced methods for the production of extra heavy crude oil in the oilfield of the Republic of Tatarstan. The filtration experiment was carried out on a bulk model of non-extracted core under reservoir conditions. The experiment involves the injection of slugs of fresh water, hot water and steam. At the stage of water injection, no oil production was observed while during steam injection recovery factor (RF) achieved 13.4 % indicating that fraction of immobile oil and non-vaporizing residual components is high and needed to be recovered by steam assisted EORs.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Shuwa ◽  
R. S. Al-Hajri ◽  
A. Mohsenzadeh ◽  
Y. M. Al-Waheibi ◽  
B. Y. Jibril

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanxi Pang ◽  
Peng Qi ◽  
Fengyi Zhang ◽  
Taotao Ge ◽  
Huiqing Liu

Heavy oil is an important hydrocarbon resource that plays a great role in petroleum supply for the world. Co-injection of steam and flue gas can be used to develop deep heavy oil reservoirs. In this paper, a series of gas dissolution experiments were implemented to analyze the properties variation of heavy oil. Then, sand-pack flooding experiments were carried out to optimize injection temperature and injection volume of this mixture. Finally, three-dimensional (3D) flooding experiments were completed to analyze the sweep efficiency and the oil recovery factor of flue gas + steam flooding. The role in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) mechanisms was summarized according to the experimental results. The results show that the dissolution of flue gas in heavy oil can largely reduce oil viscosity and its displacement efficiency is obviously higher than conventional steam injection. Flue gas gradually gathers at the top to displace remaining oil and to decrease heat loss of the reservoir top. The ultimate recovery is 49.49% that is 7.95% higher than steam flooding.


1983 ◽  
Vol 23 (06) ◽  
pp. 937-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching H. Wu ◽  
Robert B. Elder

Abstract Steam distillation can occur in reservoirs during steam injection and in-situ combustion processes. To estimate the amount of vaporized oil caused by steam distillation, we established correlations of steam distillation yields with the basic crude oil properties. These correlations were based on steam distillation tests performed on 16 crude oils from various pans of the U.S. The gravity of oils varied from 12 to 40 deg. API [0.99 to 0.83 g/cm3]. The viscosity of oil ranged from 5 to 4,085 cSt [5 to 4085 mm /s] at 100 deg. F [38 deg. C]. The steam distillations were performed at a saturated steam pressure of 220 psia [1.5 MPa]. One oil sample was used in experiments to investigate the effect of steam pressure (220 to 500 psia [1.5 to 3.4 MPa]) on the steam distillation yield. The experiments were carried out to a steam distillation factor (Vw/Voi) of 20, with the factor defined as the cumulative volume of condensed steam used in distillation, Vw, divided by the initial volume of oil, Voi. At a steam distillation factor of 20, the distillation yields ranged from 13 to 57% of the initial oil volume. Several basic crude oil properties can be used to predict steam distillation yields reasonably well. A correlation using oil viscosity in centistokes at 100 deg. F [38 deg. C] can be used to predict the steam distillation yield within a standard error of 4.3 %. The API gravity can be used to estimate wields within 5.6%. A gas chromatographic analysis was made for each crude oil to obtain the component boiling points (simulated distillation temperatures). A correlation parameter was selected from the simulated distillation results that can be used to estimate the steam distillation yields within 4.5%. Introduction Steamflooding has been used commercially to recover heavy oils for several decades. Although it is considered a heavy-oil recovery process, it has been demonstrated to be an effective and commercially feasible process for recovering light oils. To enhance the effectiveness of the oil recovery process, it is important to fully understand and utilize the basic steamflooding mechanisms. Willman et al. investigated the mechanisms of steamflooding. They concluded that oil viscosity reduction, oil volume expansion, and steam distillation are the major mechanisms for oil recovery. Since then, more research has been done on all phases of steam injection. However, steam distillation and its ramifications on recovery have not been quantified fully because of lack of experimental data. Steam distillation can lower the boiling point of a water/oil mixture below the boiling point of the individual components. SPEJ P. 937^


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar Ovalles ◽  
Carlos Vallejos ◽  
Tito Vasquez ◽  
Jorge Martinis ◽  
Alfredo Perez-Perez ◽  
...  

1983 ◽  
Vol 23 (02) ◽  
pp. 265-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.H. Duerksen ◽  
L. Hsueh

Abstract The objectives of this investigation were to generate crude oil steam distillation data for the prediction of phase behavior in steamflood simulation and to correlate the steam distillation yields for a variety of crude oils. Thirteen steam distillation tests were run on 10 crude oils ranging in gravity from 9.4 to 37 deg. API (1.004 to 0.840 g/cm3). In each test the crude was steam distilled sequentially at about 220, 300, 400, and 500 deg. F (104, 149, 204, and 260 deg. C). The cumulative steam distillation yields at 400 deg. F (204 deg. C) ranged from about 20 to 55 vol%. Experimental results showed that crude oil steam distillation yields at steamflood conditions are significant, even for heavy oils. The effects of differences in steam volume throughput and steam temperature were taken into account when comparing yields for different crudes or repeat runs on the same crude. Steam distillation yields show a high correlation with crude oil API gravity and wax content. Introduction Steam distillation is an important steamflood oil recovery mechanism, especially in reservoirs containing light oils. Injected steam heats the formation and eventually forms a steam zone, which grows with continued steam injection. A fraction of the crude oil in the steam zone vaporizes into the steam phase according to the vapor pressures of the hydrocarbon constituents contained in the crude oil. The hydrocarbon vapor is transported through the steam zone by the flowing steam. Both the steam and hydrocarbon vapor condense at the steam front to form a hot-water zone and a hydrocarbon distillate bank. The vaporization, transport, and condensation of the hydrocarbon fractions is a dynamic process that displaces the lighter hydrocarbon fractions and generates a distillate bank that miscibly drives reservoir oil to producing wells. The effect of steam distillation on oil recovery has been investigated in several laboratory studies, steamf lood field tests, and in simulation studies. In a critical review of steam flood mechanisms, Wu discussed the steam distillation mechanism in detail. Wu and Brown reported steam distillation yields for six crude oils ranging from 9 to 36 deg. API (1.007 to 0.845 g/cm3). When plotted against their steam distillation correlation parameter, Vw/Voi (the ratio of collected steam condensate, Vw, and initial oil volume, Voi), the yields were independent of the porous medium used, steam-injection rate, and initial oil volume. For the crude oils tested, they concluded that changing the saturated steam pressure and temperature had an insignificant effect on yield, but superheating the steam from 471 to 600 deg. F (244 to 316 deg. C) significantly increased the yield. Wu and Elder reported steam distillation yields for 16 crude oils ranging from 12 to 40 deg. API (0.986 to 0.825 g/cm3). Yields ranged from 12 to 56% of initial oil volume at a distillation temperature and pressure of 380 deg. F and 200 psig (193 deg. C and 1.379 MPa). Yields at Vw/Voi = 15 were correlated with three parameters:simulated distillation temperature of the oil at 20% yield,oil viscosity, andoil API gravity. The simulated distillation obtained by gas chromatography closely approximates the true boiling-point distillation as determined by ASTM distillation. The simulated distillation temperature at 20% yield gave the closest correlation with steam distillation yield. SPEJ P. 265^


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