Crisman Annual Report 2009 - Harold Vance Department of ...

In-Situ Oil Upgrading using Tetralin (C 10
H 12
) Hydrogen Donor and Fe(acac) 3
Catalyst at Steam Injection Pressure and Temperature
Objectives
In-situ upgrading has advantages over conventional
surface upgrading technology. First, in-situ upgrading
enhances oil recovery, increases well production,
and lowers lifting and transportation costs from
reservoir to refinery. It eliminates the cost of building
catalytic reactors or vessels. The in-situ process can
be applied onshore or offshore as well as in remote
locations where surface facilities may be prohibited.
Second, in-situ upgrading can be applied on a wellto-well
basis, and thus can be adjusted for declining
production rates whereas surface processing are
designed for a specified range of crude volume.
Third, implementation of in-situ upgrading reduces
energy consumption since the same energy from
steam injection is used to produce and upgrade the
oil. Finally, in-situ upgrading is more environmentally
friendly, yielding lower quantities of byproducts that
reduce disposal expenditures.
The main objectives of the research are as follows:
» Follow up on research by Ahmad Mohammad, for
example, in-situ oil upgrading using tetralin (C 10
H 12
)
and Fe(CH 3
COCHCOCH 3
) 3
[i.e., Fe(acac) 3
] catalyst
at steam injection pressure and temperature as
found in the field.
» Make runs in which we inject a slug or slugs of
tetralin/catalyst followed by steam injection.
» Simulate longer injection periods in the experiments
by making runs for several days, stopping at the
end of each day.
» Make runs using a reactor cell and synthetic oil
made of several pure components (similar to
Ramirez’s PhD research). Analyze any change
in synthetic oil composition by GC analysis. This
type of experiment will help us determine which
components are upgraded by tetralin/catalyst, and
then extrapolate the results to actual oil.
» For both displacement and reactor cell experiments,
investigate the effect of steam-surfactant injection
to lower IFT and thus increase recovery factor.
Approach
For reactor cell experiments, one single hydrocarbon
component will be used for each run. The hydrocarbon
component, water, tetralin, and catalyst are
mixed in the cell and then pressurized and heated
to reservoir steam flooding conditions for a period
of time. At the end of the run, a sample of the
liquid from the cell is removed and its composition
analyzed using a GC.
For injection tests, the experimental apparatus (Fig
1) is made up of four main parts: injection cell, fluid
injection system, fluid production system, and data
recording system.
The experimental procedure is as follows:
(1) Prepare sand/water/oil mixture, (2) Tamp
mixture into injection cell and pressure test, (3)
Install injection cell into vacuum jacket and pressure
test whole system, (4) Set heating jacket to reservoir
temperature and leave overnight, (5) Condition
steam generator and pressurize injection cell, (6)
Start tetralin or tetralin-catalyst injections (only for
injection runs), and (7) Start steam injection and
collect samples.
Accomplishments
Set up reactor cell, GC and other equipment, and
investigated chemical requirements for research.
Reviewed papers and books on oil upgrading using
tetralin/catalyst.
(continued on next page)
Project Information
1.3.17 Experimental Studies of Non-Thermal EOR Methods
for Heavy and Light Oil Recovery
Related Publications
Mohammad, A. A. and Mamora, D. D. In-Situ Upgrading of
Heavy Oil under Steam Injection with Tetralin and Catalyst,
Paper presented at the 2008 International Thermal
Operations and Heavy Oil Symposiums, Calgary, Alberta,
Canada, 20-23 October.
Contacts
Daulat Mamora
979.845.2962
daulat.mamora@pe.tamu.edu
Zhiyong Zhang
CRISMAN INSTITUTE
Crisman Annual Report 2009
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