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Alkali metal silicides are a new class of materials that can provide thermal, chemical and immiscible gas drive benefits in one treatment. Not previously known in oilfield applications, these materials are solid, energy-dense chemicals that generate heat, hydrogen and an alkali silicate upon reaction with reservoir water. The reaction is only limited by availability of any type of water; in a closed environment, pressures >10,000 psi can be generated. Alkali metal silicides are dispersible in various hydrocarbon fluids to facilitate placement in a reservoir and can be coated to allow time delayed reaction. The powders can also be milled to submicron size for optimum injectivity in high permeability reservoirs. This combination of material and reaction-product properties makes silicides particularly applicable for the recovery of heavier crude oils. Since the chemical reaction occurs in-situ, silicides are not subject to the thermal efficiency limitations of conventional thermal EOR processes at depth. Further, the resulting hydrogen and silicate reaction products represent a "green" chemistry approach that may reduce the environmental impact of oil recovery operations. This paper presents bench scale core flood results demonstrating that alkali metal silicides can recover greater than 50% of residual oil. Results also show that alkali metal silicides can provide accelerated oil production, as much as 20% faster than comparable chemical technologies.
Alkali metal silicides are a new class of materials that can provide thermal, chemical and immiscible gas drive benefits in one treatment. Not previously known in oilfield applications, these materials are solid, energy-dense chemicals that generate heat, hydrogen and an alkali silicate upon reaction with reservoir water. The reaction is only limited by availability of any type of water; in a closed environment, pressures >10,000 psi can be generated. Alkali metal silicides are dispersible in various hydrocarbon fluids to facilitate placement in a reservoir and can be coated to allow time delayed reaction. The powders can also be milled to submicron size for optimum injectivity in high permeability reservoirs. This combination of material and reaction-product properties makes silicides particularly applicable for the recovery of heavier crude oils. Since the chemical reaction occurs in-situ, silicides are not subject to the thermal efficiency limitations of conventional thermal EOR processes at depth. Further, the resulting hydrogen and silicate reaction products represent a "green" chemistry approach that may reduce the environmental impact of oil recovery operations. This paper presents bench scale core flood results demonstrating that alkali metal silicides can recover greater than 50% of residual oil. Results also show that alkali metal silicides can provide accelerated oil production, as much as 20% faster than comparable chemical technologies.
Summary Alkali-metal silicides are a new class of materials that provide thermal, chemical, and immiscible gas-drive benefits in one treatment. Not previously known in oilfield applications, these materials are energy-dense chemicals that generate heat, hydrogen, and an alkali silicate after reaction with reservoir water. The reaction is only limited by the availability of water in any form; in a closed environment, one can generate pressures >10,000 psi (>68.9 MPa). One can disperse alkali-metal silicides in various hydrocarbon fluids to facilitate placement deep in the reservoir, or one can coat them to allow a time-delayed reaction. One can mill the powders to submicron size for optimum injectivity in high-permeability reservoirs or zones. This combination of reaction-product properties makes silicides particularly applicable for the recovery of heavier crude oils. Because the chemical reaction occurs in situ, silicides are not subject to the thermal-inefficiency limitations of conventional thermal-enhanced-oil-recovery processes at depth. Further, the resulting hydrogen and silicate reaction products represent a “green” chemistry approach that may reduce the environmental impact of oil-recovery operations. This paper discusses the potential impacts of heat, hydrogen, and alkali generated from alkali-metal silicide and presents bench-scale high-permeability unconsolidated-sandpack linear-flood results demonstrating recovery efficiencies up to 93% of original oil in place (residual oil saturation = 0.058). Results also show that alkali-metal silicides can provide accelerated oil production, as much as 20% faster than comparable chemical technologies.
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