Oxidation of heavy crude oil using oil-soluble titanium oxide in in-situ combustion process

Abstract

© 2019, International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference. All rights reserved. In-situ combustion (ISC) is an enhanced oil recovery process where heat and flus gases (combustion gases) are generated by burning a portion of crude oil to reduce oil viscosity and pressurize the system in the reservoir. Overall, in this method, air is injected to the reservoir, after the ignition process (self-ignition or artificial ignition), a combustion front is formed and moves toward the producer well. Nowadays, using metal oxide catalysts is considered as a possible and feasible route to improve the oxidation during in-situ combustion process by providing the proper and enough surface for crude oil oxidation. Herein, we have used oil-soluble titanium oxide nanoparticles coated with oleic acid to achieve high catalytic efficiency due to its solubility in crude oil environment. Four experiments were conducted in high pressure differential scanning calorimetry (HP-DSC) including pure crude oil, crude oil with 1% TiO2 and crude oil with oil-soluble TiO2 (1% and 3%) for evaluating the catalytic effect of the synthesized catalysts on the oxidation process of crude oil. The HP-DSC results showed that this synthesized catalyst improved the oxidation performance of heavy oil. In the presence of oil-soluble catalyst, the LTO and HTO intervals were shifted to lower temperatures due to reducing the activation energy of oxidation. Also, it is notable that this type of oil soluble catalyst can be synthesized using cheap and accessible materials. In conclusion, the oil-soluble titanium oxide nanoparticles have a great potential for catalyzing the oxidation of heavy crude oil in in-situ combustion process.