Intensification of the steam stimulation process using bimetallic oxide catalysts of MFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> (M = Cu, Co, Ni) for in-situ upgrading and recovery of heavy oil

Abstract

In this study, bimetallic catalysts based on transition metals CuFe2O4, CoFe2O4 and NiFe2O4 are proposed for catalyzing aquathermolysis reaction during steam-based EOR method to improve in-situ heavy oil upgrading. All upgrading experiments were carried out under a nitrogen atmosphere for 24 h in a 300-ml batch Parr reactor at 250 and 300 °C under high pressure 35 and 75 bar, respectively. To evaluate the catalytic performance of the bimetallic catalysts used, comprehensive studies of changes in the physical and chemical properties of the improved oils, including the viscosity, elemental composition and SARA fractions of oils before and after upgrading processes were used. Furthermore, individual SARA fractions were characterized in detail by Gas Chromatography (GC), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (13C NMR), respectively. The results showed that bimetallic catalysts have high catalytic performance at 300 °C for the upgrading of heavy crude oil in viscosity reduction, increasing the amount of saturates (especially alkanes with low carbon number) as a result of thermal decompositions of high molecular weight compounds like resin and asphaltenes leading to their increasing. Furthermore, the upgrading performance is reflected in the improvement of the H/C ratio, the removal of sulfur and nitrogen through desulfurization and denitrogenation procedures, and the reduction in polyaromatic content, etc. CoFe2O4 gives the best performance. Generally, it can be concluded that, used bimetallic based catalysts can be considered as promising and potential additives improving in-situ upgrading and thermal conversion the heavy oils.