A review of novel techniques for heavy oil and bitumen extraction and upgrading

Shah, Amjad; Fishwick, Robert P.; Wood, Joseph; Leeke, Gary A.; Rigby, Sean P.; Gréaves, M.

doi:10.1039/b918960b

Cited by 489 publications

(292 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Heavy crude oil fractions are a major economic revenue source because of their greater abundance compared to conventional light oil. 1 However, the increased demand for light distillate products has resulted in refineries producing even heavier fractions for the fuel oil market. A significant portion of the energy requirements in several locations of the world is met by combustion of heavy fuel oil (HFO).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

TG/DTG, FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry, and NMR Spectroscopy Study of Heavy Fuel Oil

Elbaz

Gani²,

Hourani³

et al. 2015

Energy Fuels

104

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ABSTRACT:There is an increasing interest in comprehensive study of heavy fuel oil (HFO) due to its growing use in furnaces, boilers, marines, and recently in gas turbines. In this work, the thermal combustion characteristics and chemical composition of HFO were investigated using a range of techniques. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was conducted to study the non-isothermal HFO combustion behavior. Chemical characterization of HFO was accomplished using various standard methods in addition to direct infusion atmospheric pressure chemical ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (APCI-FTICR MS), high resolution 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), 13 C NMR, and two dimensional hetero-nuclear multiple bond correlation (HMBC) spectroscopy. By analyzing thermogravimetry and differential thermogravimetry (TG/DTG) results, three different reaction regions were identified in the combustion of HFO with air, specifically, low temperature oxidation region (LTO), fuel deposition (FD) and high temperature oxidation (HTO) region. At the high end of the LTO region, a mass transfer resistance (skin effect) was evident. Kinetic analysis in LTO and HT|O regions was conducted using two different kinetic models to calculate the apparent activation energy. In both models, HTO activation energies are higher than those for LTO. The FT-ICR MS technique resolved thousands of aromatic and sulfur containing compounds in the HFO sample and provided compositional details for individual molecules of three major class species. The major classes of compounds included species with one sulfur atom (S 1 ), with two sulfur atoms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 2 (S 2 ), and purely hydrocarbons (HC). The DBE (double bond equivalent) abundance plots established for S 1 and HC provided additional information on their distributions in the HFO sample. The 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR results revealed that nearly 59% of the 1 H nuclei were distributed as paraffinic CH 2 and 5% were in aromatic groups. Nearly 21% of 13 C nuclei were distributed in aromatic groups indicating that most paraffinic CH 2 groups are attached to aromatic rings. A negligible amount of olefins was present and an appreciable quantity of monoaromatic and poly-aromatic content were observed. Molecular connectivity between the hydrogen and carbon atoms using HMBC spectra was utilized to propose several plausible skeletal structures in HFO.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

TG/DTG, FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry, and NMR Spectroscopy Study of Heavy Fuel Oil

Elbaz

Gani²,

Hourani³

et al. 2015

Energy Fuels

104

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“…The resources of heavy oil in the world are more than twice as great as those of conventional light crude oil (Shah et al 2010). Heavy crude oils, with an API gravity less than 20 (Hascakir et al 2009), have been found in different regions in the world, such as the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela, Alberta in Canada, some regions of the Gulf of Mexico, and northeastern China (Galarraga et al 2007;Rana et al 2007;Hinkle et al 2008;Chen et al 2009;Martínez-Palou 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ catalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil through low-temperature oxidation

Jia

Liu

et al. 2016

Pet. Sci.

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The low-temperature catalytic oxidation of heavy crude oil (Xinjiang Oilfield, China) was studied using three types of catalysts including oil-soluble, watersoluble, and dispersed catalysts. According to primary screening, oil-soluble catalysts, copper naphthenate and manganese naphthenate, are more attractive, and were selected to further investigate their catalytic performance in in situ upgrading of heavy oil. The heavy oil compositions and molecular structures were characterized by column chromatography, elemental analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry before and after reaction. An Arrhenius kinetics model was introduced to calculate the rheological activation energy of heavy oil from the viscosity-temperature characteristics. Results show that the two oil-soluble catalysts can crack part of heavy components into light components, decrease the heteroatom content, and achieve the transition of reaction mode from oxygen addition to bond scission. The calculated rheological activation energy of heavy oil from the fitted Arrhenius model is consistent with physical properties of heavy oil (oil viscosity and contents of heavy fractions). It is found that the temperature, oil composition, and internal molecular structures are the main factors affecting its flow ability. Oil-soluble catalyst-assisted air injection or air huff-n-puff injection is a promising in situ catalytic upgrading method for improving heavy oil recovery.

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“…Although heavy oil is an important supplement to traditional crude oil, especially in Canada, Venezuela, and China, it is difficult to recover and transport due to its highly viscous character (Shah et al 2010;Hart 2014;Santos et al 2014;Zhao et al 2014). Many techniques have been proposed to reduce its viscosity during production, transportation, and processing, such as oil/water soluble viscosity reducing agents, thermal recovery, thermolysis, aquathermolysis, and visbreaking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catalytic aquathermolysis of Shengli heavy crude oil with an amphiphilic cobalt catalyst

2016

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An interfacially active cobalt complex, cobalt dodecylbenzenesulfonate, was synthesized. Elemental analysis, atomic absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis, and surface/interfacial tension determination were performed to investigate the properties of the catalyst. Results showed that the synthesized catalyst showed active interfacial behavior, decreasing the surface tension and interfacial tension between heavy oil and liquid phase to below 30 and 1.5 mN/m, respectively. The catalyst was not thermally degraded at a temperature of 400°C, indicating its high thermal stability. Catalytic performance of the catalyst was evaluated by carrying out aquathermolysis. The viscosity determination showed that the viscosity of the heavy oil decreased by 38 %. The average molecular weight, group compositions, and average molecular structure of various samples were analyzed using elemental analysis, FT-IR, electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (ESI FT-ICR MS), and 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance. Results indicated that the catalyst could attack the sulfur-and O 2 -type heteroatomic compounds in asphaltene and resin, especially the compounds with aromatic structure, leading to a decrease in the molecular weight and then the reduction in the viscosity of heavy oil. Therefore, the synthesized catalyst might find an application in catalytic aquathermolysis of heavy oil, especially for the high-aromaticity heavy oil with high oxygen content.

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A review of novel techniques for heavy oil and bitumen extraction and upgrading

Cited by 489 publications

References 38 publications

TG/DTG, FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry, and NMR Spectroscopy Study of Heavy Fuel Oil

TG/DTG, FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry, and NMR Spectroscopy Study of Heavy Fuel Oil

In situ catalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil through low-temperature oxidation

Catalytic aquathermolysis of Shengli heavy crude oil with an amphiphilic cobalt catalyst

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