A comparative study of heavy oil oxidation thermal behavior in the presence of Cu-Mn tallates

Heavy oil in-situ combustion process has many benefits among other thermal enhancing oil recovery methods. However, its application is still a complex task due to the irregular propagation of combustion front in the reservoir and its early breaking down. Recent finding regarding in-situ combustion development have led to use catalysts based on transition metals in order to stabilize and enhance combustion front flow. Transition metals was chosen rather than other types of catalysts because of their practical, feasible and economic impact in a wide range of industrial processes. Current solutions to catalytic in-situ combustion are inconsistent with their application in real fields due the problems associated to the injection of catalysts in the reservoir from one side and to the high cost that can be generated from the use of certain type of catalysts. In this context, we studied the effect of copper and manganese tallates in different metal ratios on the oxidation of heavy oil by applying various physical and physical-chemical methods. As a result, we have obtained accurate results demonstrating the potential effect of Cu-Mn tallates in stabilizing combustion front during high temperature oxidation reactions.

[1]  M. Varfolomeev,et al.  Copper stearate as a catalyst for improving the oxidation performance of heavy oil in in-situ combustion process , 2018, Applied Catalysis A: General.

[2]  S. Rigby,et al.  Effect of pre-ignition heating cycle method, air injection flux, and reservoir viscosity on the THAI heavy oil recovery process , 2018, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering.

[3]  G. Kayukova,et al.  Catalytic Aquathermolysis of High-Viscosity Oil Using Iron, Cobalt, and Copper Tallates , 2018, Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils.

[4]  A. Eskin,et al.  Catalytic Combustion of Heavy Oil in the Presence of Manganese-Based Submicroparticles in a Quartz Porous Medium , 2017 .

[5]  A. Gerasimov,et al.  Mn-Catalyzed Oxidation of Heavy Oil in Porous Media: Kinetics and Some Aspects of the Mechanism , 2016 .

[6]  J. Thovert,et al.  New Granular Model Medium To Investigate Smoldering Fronts Propagation - Experiments , 2015 .

[7]  Malcolm Greaves,et al.  A review of novel techniques for heavy oil and bitumen extraction and upgrading , 2010 .

[8]  R. Hughes,et al.  Comparison of conventional and catalytic in-situ combustion processes for oil recovery , 2009 .

[9]  J. Ancheyta,et al.  A review of recent advances on process technologies for upgrading of heavy oils and residua , 2007 .

[10]  P. S. Sarathi,et al.  In-Situ Combustion Handbook -- Principles and Practices , 1999 .

[11]  L. Castanier,et al.  Modifying In-Situ Combustion Performance by the Use of Water-Soluble Additives , 1991 .

[12]  H. J. Ramey,et al.  Reaction Kinetics of In-Situ Combustion: Part 1-Observations , 1984 .

[13]  H. E. Kissinger.  Variation of Peak Temperature With Heating Rate in Differential Thermal Analysis , 1956 .