Kinetics of Non-Catalytic Aquathermolysis of Heavy Crude Oil in the Presence of a Hydrogen Donor

Abstract

The research for increasing the performance of novel technologies for the production and upgrading of heavy crude oil reserves through the development and selection of adequate catalyst precursors and hydrogen donors has been raised to address the growing energy demand. Studies based on complex kinetic models are required to achieve a better understanding of the effect of hydrogen donors and their reaction mechanisms for the aquathermolysis of heavy crude oil. In this study, the kinetic effect of decalin as a hydrogen donor on aquathermolysis of heavy crude oil was analyzed under a temperature range of 250−300 °C, a water/oil ratio of 3:7, and reaction periods of up to 72 h. A fivelump kinetic model was developed to study the reaction behavior of the SARA fractions and gas production, where the calculated kinetic parameters provided an adequate agreement with average absolute error values lower than 5% concerning experimental data. The model results indicated that in experiments in the presence of decalin, the conversion of asphaltenes presents a higher selectivity toward resins and aromatic compounds. On the other hand, the formation of secondary asphaltenes produced from resins is inhibited, showing an improvement in the selectivity of aromatic compounds from this fraction.