In Situ Combustion of Light Oil: Stoichiometric, Kinetic, and Thermodynamic Analyses from the Flow Experiments

Ruidas, Bidhan C.; Ganguly, Suvankar

doi:10.1080/00102202.2015.1050553

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 29 publications

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“…The fundamental research areas are considered to be the experimental work on kinetic cells through ramped temperature oxidation (RTO), as well as into combustion pipes designed to study the one-dimensional method of in situ combustion. These approaches allow for the determination of the amount of fuel needed for cracking, as well as estimating the velocity of the combustion front movement [53][54][55].…”

Section: Review Of Experimental Approaches Into the Study Of The In S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in the Study of In Situ Combustion for Enhanced Oil Recovery

et al. 2023

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Global estimates for our remaining capacity to exploit developed oil fields indicate that the currently recoverable oil (light oil) will last for approximately 50 years. This necessitates the development of viscous and superviscous oil fields, which will further compensate for the loss of easily produced oil. In situ combustion is the most promising production method, which allows for increased oil recovery from a reservoir. This being the case, this study provides an overview of global trends regarding the research and implementation of the method under consideration, in order to promote understanding of its applicability and effectiveness. The background to the development of the method is discussed in detail, illustrating the growing interest of researchers in its study. Cases of both successful as well as inefficient implementations of this method in real oil fields are considered. The main focus of the article is to investigate the influence of the parent rock and catalysts on the combustion process, as this is a new and actively developing area in the study of enhanced oil recovery using in situ combustion. Geological surveys, in addition to experimental and numerical studies, are considered to be the main methods that are used to investigate processes during in situ combustion. The analysis that we carried out led us to understand that the processes which occur during the combustion of heavy oil are practically unpredictable and, therefore, poorly understood. The specificity of the oil composition under consideration depends on the field, which can lead to a change in the required temperature regimes for its production. This indicates that there exists multiple specific applications for the method under consideration, each requiring additional full studies into both the fractional composition of oil and its reservoirs. The article also considers various technologies for implementing the in situ combustion method, such as ND-ISC, THAITM, COSH, CAGD, and SAGD. However, the literature review has shown that none of the technologies presented is widely used, due to the lack of an evidence base for their successful application in the field. Moreover, it should be noted that this method has no limits associated with the oil occurrence depth. This technology can be implemented in thin reservoirs, as well as in flooded, clayey, sandy, and carbonate reservoirs. The review we have presented can be considered as a guide for further research into the development of global solutions for using the proposed method.

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Section: Review Of Experimental Approaches Into the Study Of The In S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in the Study of In Situ Combustion for Enhanced Oil Recovery

et al. 2023

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Numerical modeling on air injection in a light oil reservoir: Recovery mechanism and scheme optimization

Jia

Sheng

2016

Fuel

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Air injection in light oil reservoirs is a promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method because of its wide availability, low cost, and ability to stimulate subterranean oil combustion. However, oil recovery mechanisms and physical processes for air injection in conventional light oil reservoirs are still not well understood. An improved understanding of air injection mechanism in conventional light oil reservoirs is provided in this paper. We use the reservoir simulation approach to study air injection in a light oil reservoir. Effects of O 2 mole concentration, activation energy, intake air temperature, geological structure and development scheme on the well performance of air injection are examined. The driving mechanism of thermal effect is revealed through the observation of oil rate fluctuating and dynamic temperature distribution. We present the evidence of the "bulldozing effect (or pore blocking)" for air injection in a light oil reservoir which shows the sudden decrease of gas relative permeability. The effect has the potential of redirecting gas flow to improve sweep efficiency. Analysis of influence factors from this work indicates that the oil recovery factor is sensitive to O 2 content in air and geological structure of the reservoir. The performance with gas injected updip is better than that downdip. It is insensitive to intake air temperature or activation energy in the reaction scheme favoring a generation of more H 2 O, insoluble CO and CH 4 .

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