Underground Upgrading of the Heavy Crude Oil in Content-Saturated Sandstone with Aquathermolysis in the Presence of an Iron Based Catalyst

Abstract

Increasing the efficiency of thermal recovery methods is an important and relevant task. This study is devoted to reducing heavy components (resins and asphaltenes) and quality improvement of heavy oil by catalytic hydrothermal treatment. The object of this study is a bituminous sandstone sample from the Ashal’cha reservoir. The catalytic (iron tallate) hydrothermal simulation was carried out under reservoir conditions (200°C, 30 bar). The composition and physicochemical characteristics of the products were studied using elemental and SARA analysis, MALDI, GC-MS, FT-IR. Moreover, the extracted rock is analyzed in XRD and DSA (Drop Shape Analyzer). The introduction of catalyst in combination with a hydrogen donor reduces the content of resins by 22.0%wt. with an increase in the share of saturated hydrocarbons by 27%wt. The destructive hydrogenation leads to a decrease in the sulfur content of upgrading products. This is crucial for the oil reservoirs of the Tatarstan Republic, as their crude oils are characterized by high sulfur content. According to the wettability data, the hydrophilicity of the rock surface increases due to inhibition of the coke formation after the introduction of the catalytic complex. Thus, the oil recovery factor can be increased due to the alteration of the oil-wetting properties of reservoir rocks.

In Situ Upgrading of Heavy Crude Oil: Comparative Study of the Performance of Cu-, Fe-, Ni-, or Zr-Containing Water-Based Catalysts

“…As displayed in Figure c, the XRD pattern of the solid recovered after performing the reaction with the zirconium-based catalyst indicates the formation of two zirconium-containing crystalline structures specifically comprising zirconium phosphate [Zr 2.25 (PO 4 ) 3 , with JCPDS card number 00-038-0017] and zirconium oxide (Zr 3 O 1– x with JCPDS card number 00-021-1498), and hydrogen phosphate (H 3 PO 3 , with JPCDS card number 01-072-0518). This finding is in good agreement with the results reported by others, who pointed out that zirconia, which has an amphoteric nature, can produce super catalysts when combined with the sulfate ion. In fact, zirconia may exhibit both monoclinic and tetragonal crystalline forms, as can be deduced when matching the XRD pattern with the JCPDS cards with numbers 37-1484 and 50-1089, respectively.…”

Comparison of Traditional and Sequential Approaches for Estimation of Kinetic Parameters of Heavy Oil Upgrading

“…Also, some reactions are not carried out at low temperatures (200 °C), such as the production of aromatics and saturates from asphaltenes, suggesting that dealkylation and cleavage of small aromatic core reactions need higher temperatures to be performed. Similar results were obtained by Sitnov et al, since the composition of saturates and aromatics remains almost constant after the noncatalytic aquathermolysis of heavy oil at 200 °C. The high values of reaction rate coefficients are observed mainly for the in-series reactions (forward and backward) between asphaltenes, resins, and aromatics and the parallel reaction of resins to produce saturates.…”

Rock Mineral Components’ Effects on Heavy and Shale Oil Transformation during Aquathermolysis

“…The authors believe that this is crucial for the oil reservoirs of Tatarstan Republic because of their high sulfur content. In addition, DSA data showed that the hydrophilicity of the rock surface increases due to inhibition of the coke formation after the introduction of the catalytic complex, which means that the oil recovery factor can be increased as a result of reservoir rocks' oil-wetting properties alteration [38].…”