Heavy oil as an emulsion: Composition, structure, and rheological properties

Zadymova, N. M.; Скворцова, З. Н.; Traskin, V. Yu.; Yampol’skaya, G. P.; Миронова, М. В.; Frenkin, E. I.; Куличихин, В. Г.; Malkin, A. Ya.

doi:10.1134/s1061933x16060211

Cited by 32 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…One of the most promising concepts is the formation of oil/water (o/w) emulsions. The formation of emulsions in crude oil is a spontaneous process related to interaction of asphaltenes with resins and other components as well as water, while oil components are mixing in flow. − Meanwhile, the presence of natural lipophilic stabilizers in crude oil prevents transformation of existing water/oil (w/o) emulsions into o/w emulsions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modifying the Viscosity of Heavy Crude Oil Using Surfactants and Polymer Additives

et al. 2018

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A systematic study of the influence of surfactant and stabilizing polymer additives on the rheological properties of heavy oil was carried out. The aim was to optimize the recipe for the most effective reduction in the oil viscosity. A total of 41 versions of the emulsion were prepared using different protocols. Creation of the emulsions with different recipes and modes of mixing led to a regulation of their morphologies, which determined the rheological properties of the final products. In all cases, emulsification resulted in a transformation of the oil from Newtonian behavior to a viscoplastic medium with a blurred yield stress. Dependent upon the composition, the yield stress was decreased up to 0.6 Pa and the viscosity at high shear obtained a value up to 50 mPa s, which is lower than the viscosity of crude oil by 34 times. The efficiency of the viscosity reduction increased with a decreasing temperature.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modifying the Viscosity of Heavy Crude Oil Using Surfactants and Polymer Additives

et al. 2018

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“…The production of highly viscous oils through traditional technologies leads to low yields of the resulting products and the loss of valuable associated components, resulting in a loss of profit and environmental damage. Sometimes, special pipelines with heating are built for the transport of heavy oils, which also increases the cost of production [7].…”

Section: Billion Tonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technological Features of High-Sulfur Heavy Crude Oils Processing

Topilnytskyy¹,

Paiuk²,

Stebelska³

et al. 2019

ChChT

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Crude oils of the Yablunivsky deposit (Poltava region, Ukraine) have been studied in order to choose further ways of their processing. The fractional composition was studied by the method of simulated distillation. The structural and mechanical properties of petroleum products, the content of metals and the elemental composition were determined. Studies have shown that oils are of high-sulfur heavy grade, without light distillates; they have high density, viscosity, and large amounts of metals. A flow chart for the processing of such oils has been proposed.

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“…First, it reduces the viscosity of the heavy oil (by forming an O/W emulsion), making it easier to flow from a deep reservoir to the producing wells. 29,30 Second, it improves the water-oil mobility ratio (by both reducing the viscosity of the heavy oil and plugging the water channels with droplets of emulsified oil), thus, contributing to sweep volume enlargement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, alkali flooding has not yet been used industrially. 29,30 Second, it improves the water-oil mobility ratio (by both reducing the viscosity of the heavy oil and plugging the water channels with droplets of emulsified oil), thus, contributing to sweep volume enlargement. In fact, SP systems have been much researched and applied in the recovery of conventional light oil, taking advantage of the well-known ultralow IFT, emulsification, wettability alternation, and water-oil mobility improvement mechanisms, etc.…”

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confidence: 99%

Performance of a good‐emulsification‐oriented surfactant‐polymer system in emulsifying and recovering heavy oil

Wang

Ding

et al. 2019

Energy Science & Engineering

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Considering the significant importance of emulsification for heavy oil recovery, a good‐emulsification‐oriented (GEO) (rather than the conventional ultralow interfacial tension (IFT) oriented) surfactant‐polymer (SP) system was employed to remove heavy oil. Specifically, the emulsification behavior and viscosity‐reduction property of heavy oil in porous media were first studied by flood tests. Then, such a GEO SP was used to displace heavy oil for recovery measurement. It is found that first, as migration increases in porous media, the in situ emulsified oil droplets evolve into smaller and more uniform droplets (without coalescence), thus, exhibit self‐adjustment ability to match with, and plug, the pores. An increase in surfactant content and seepage velocity also makes the emulsion's particles smaller and more uniformly distributed. Second, such oil‐in‐water emulsification indeed helps to reduce heavy oil viscosity in porous media and there is an optimal surfactant content for such viscosity reduction: The lower the water cut, the greater the optimal surfactant content, the worse the viscosity‐reduction effect. Third, on its own, the GEO surfactant performs very poorly in recovering heavy oil and is even worse than the single polymer; therefore, such a surfactant should be jointly used with a polymer in an SP system instead of on its own, but an excessive surfactant content in the SP seems to hinder the recovery, while the large slug size tends to contribute significantly to an improved oil recovery.

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Heavy oil as an emulsion: Composition, structure, and rheological properties

Cited by 32 publications

References 80 publications

Modifying the Viscosity of Heavy Crude Oil Using Surfactants and Polymer Additives

Modifying the Viscosity of Heavy Crude Oil Using Surfactants and Polymer Additives

Technological Features of High-Sulfur Heavy Crude Oils Processing

Performance of a good‐emulsification‐oriented surfactant‐polymer system in emulsifying and recovering heavy oil

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