The Influence of Clay Minerals Types on the Oxidation Thermokinetics of Crude Oil

Abstract The effect of different clays, including kaolinite, smectite, illite, and chlorite, on the oxidation kinetics of Keke Ya crude oil (Tarim basin, China) was reported. Three distinct reaction regions were identified in all tests, known as low-temperature oxidation (LTO), fuel deposition, and high-temperature oxidation (HTO), respectively. Arrhenius method was used to analyze the TG/DTG data for obtaining activation energy. Results show that LTO and HTO activation energy of Keke Ya crude oil are 26.68 and 153.05 KJ.mol−1, while varied from 16.62 to 40.60, and from 22.18 to 96.15 KJ.mol−1 for LTO and HTO regions, respectively, by the addition of clays and reservoir cutting. Clays and reservoir cutting play an important role for decreasing the activation energy of crude oil oxidation due to the catalytic and surface area effect. It revealed that smectite is ranked first, illite is ranked second followed by chlorite and kaolinite in the aspect of catalytic ability for crude oil oxidation. This study can provide a valuable laboratory theoretical foundation for the guideline to achieve high-performance thermal enhanced oil recovery projects for different lithology reservoirs.%