Impact of Iron Tallate on the Kinetic Behavior of the Oxidation Process of Heavy Oils

Abstract

Oxidation of heavy and extra-heavy oils is recognized as a complicated process due to the heterogeneous nature of its reaction medium and the lack of knowledge concerning its reaction mechanisms. The next decade is likely to witness a considerable rise in the use of in situ combustion to extract heavy and extra-heavy oils. However, a major issue of the in situ combustion is the instability of the combustion front. For this reason, application of catalysts was viewed as a way to initiate the process early and stabilize the resultant combustion front. In this study, we have synthesized an efficient precursor of ironcontaining catalyst, studied its effect on heavy-oil oxidation by estimating the heat-flow-rate changes occurring during the oxidation process as a function of heating at different rates using differential scanning calorimetry, and investigated its transformation throughout the oxidation process by estimating its mass loss with heating at the rate of 10 °C min −1 using thermogravimetric analysis. In addition, we studied the morphology and size of the final product of oxidation obtained at 500 °C using scanning electron microscopy. At the end of the study, we compared its effect to that of the previously studied manganese tallate on heavy-oil oxidation. The kinetic parameters of the processes have been obtained by means of applying Kissinger method (isoconversional principle). Interestingly, iron tallate has been found to decrease the activation energy of both low-temperature and high-temperature oxidation regions. In addition, the values of effective reaction rate constants of both regions (low-temperature oxidation and high-temperature oxidation) increased in the presence of iron tallate as well. Moreover, it has been suggested that the iron oxide nanoparticles formed in situ are responsible for the resulting catalytic effect.

Comparative Kinetic Study on Heavy Oil Oxidation in the Presence of Nickel Tallate and Cobalt Tallate

“…This paper aims to validate our previous finding , about the utility of using oil-soluble catalysts based on tall oil in the in situ combustion process. Thus, we have studied the effect of heavy oil oxidation in the presence of nickel tallate and cobalt tallate as effective precatalysts for enhancing the oil oxidation process.…”

“…It possesses similar properties to nickel in terms of catalytic and behavioral aspects . The combination of the aforementioned catalyst with tallates is a promising way to guarantee a high dispersion extent of catalytic agents during the oxidation process, as have been demonstrated in our previous works on iron and manganese tallates …”

Thermal Study on Stabilizing the Combustion Front via Bimetallic Mn@Cu Tallates during Heavy Oil Oxidation

“…27 In our previous works, we have applied oil-soluble catalysts in the process of heavy oil oxidation by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and showed good results in terms of decreasing the activation energy and increasing the frequency factor. 28,29 Nevertheless, oil-soluble catalysts are considered as effective agents for the oxidation of heavy oils because of their high solubility in oil media. When it comes to catalyst choice, high selectivity and consistency with a positive impact on the surroundings in addition to the economic efficiency of the process are critical parameters to take into consideration.…”

The Oil-Bearing Strata of Permian Deposits of the Ashal’cha Oil Field Depending on the Content, Composition, and Thermal Effects of Organic Matter Oxidation in the Rocks

“…For the successful implementation of thermal and steam-thermal effects on the formation, it is necessary to know and determine the thermal effects caused by the material composition of the rocks and to be able to determine and select the optimal conditions for the implementation of technological processes of influence on the formation, namely, temperature and pressure. To solve these problems, thermal methods are used, in particular, thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry (TG/DSC) [23,34,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51].…”