Catalytic oxidation of heavy crude oil using copper based catalyst for in-situ combustion enhanced oil recovery

Abstract

© 2019, International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference. All rights reserved. The recovery of heavy, extra heavy oils and bitumens has been challenging for the world oil industry. In-situ combustion (ISC) has been proved to be effective method for the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of these heavy crudes. However, the wide application of ISC is still limited due to the difficulty in ignition and unstable combustion front, etc. In order to address these difficulties, catalysts have been proposed for improving the combustion behavior of crude oils in ISC process. This study is aimed to identify the catalytic effect of oil-soluble copper-based catalyst in ISC processes. A series of oxidation experiments have been carried out for heavy oil in the presence and absence of copper-based oil-soluble catalyst using a special designed equipment. The results have shown that the catalyst has reduced the onset temperature from 265 °C to 225°C, has improved the temperature increased due to the heat release of combustion from 300 °C to 405 °C, which means that the used oil-soluble copper-based catalyst has catalytic effect on accelerating the oxidation process. In conclusion, the catalytic effect of copper-based oil-soluble catalyst has been proved. It’s application in in-situ combustion process will decrease the onset temperature and provide more stable combustion front due to higher heat release.