Acoustic and sonochemical methods for altering the viscosity of oil during recovery and pipeline transportation

Abstract

Reduction of oil viscosity is of great importance for the petroleum industry since it contributes a lot to the facilitation of pipeline transportation of oil. This study analyzes the capability of acoustic waves to decrease the viscosity of oil during its commercial production. Three types of equipment were tested: an ultrasonic emitter that is located directly in the well and affects oil during its production and two types of acoustic machines to be located at the wellhead and perform acoustic treatment after oil extraction: a setup for ultrasonic hydrodynamic treatment and a flow-through ultrasonic reactor. In our case, the two acoustic machines were rebuilt and tested in the laboratory. The viscosity of oil was measured before and after both types of acoustic treatment; and 2, 24 and 48h after ultrasonic treatment and 1 and 4h after hydrodynamic treatment in order to estimate the constancy of viscosity reduction. The viscosity reduction achieved by acoustic waves was compared to the viscosity reduction achieved by acoustic waves jointly with solvents. It was shown, that regardless of the form of powerful acoustic impact, a long lasting decrease in viscosity can be obtained only if sonochemical treatment is used. Using sonochemical treatment based on ultrasonic hydrodynamic treatment a viscosity reduction by 72,46% was achieved. However, the reduction in viscosity by 16%, which was demonstrated using the ultrasonic downhole tool in the well without addition of chemicals, is high enough to facilitate the production of viscous hydrocarbons.

Recent applications of ultrasonic waves in improved oil recovery: A review of techniques and results

“…Further field tests were also performed in Tatarstan oil field by Abramov et al [43] to examine the influence of ultrasound on fluid viscosity under reservoir conditions. They performed a 24-hour ultrasonic treatment with an over-ground generator having an output power of 9 kW and a frequency of 19 kHz.…”

Industrial Applications of High-Intensity Ultrasound

“…Under well conditions, ultrasonic treatment can lead to such effects as increase of fluid penetration into capillaries due to the sonocapillary effect, an increase of fluid mobility, and the detachment of paraffinic and other deposits from the rock [14]. Under well and surface conditions, ultrasound can lead to viscosity reduction [16,17]. In high viscosity oil conglomerates, the molecules are bonded to each other by intermolecular forces.…”

The mechanism of ultrasonic irradiation effect on viscosity variations of heavy crude oil

“…To date, fossil energy, such as oil and natural gas, has not been and cannot be completely replaced by new energy sources, such as wind and solar energy. However, when the exploitation of conventional petroleum and gas resources reaches a bottleneck, the exploitation and effective utilization of unconventional energy such as heavy crude oil (herein referred to as ‘heavy oil’) and ultra-heavy oil, become essential [1] , [2] , [3] . Even though the resource of heavy oil is rich, its characteristics of high viscosity, high density, and high impurity atom content make exploitation and transport difficult [4] , [5] .…”