Thermal upgrading of Athabasca bitumen in porous media: Limitations and kinetic modelling

Technologies merging enhanced oil recovery with in situ upgrading can significantly increase the economic and environmental efficiency of unconventional oil exploitation. This work targets understanding the effects of thermal processing in a porous medium at moderate temperatures (340–370°C) and res...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Fuel (Guildford) 2017-11, Vol.208, p.566-575
Main Authors: Rodriguez-DeVecchis, Victor M., Carbognani Ortega, Lante, Scott, Carlos E., Pereira-Almao, Pedro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bitumen
Bitumens
Coke
Conversion
Cracking (fracturing)
Economic conditions
Enhanced oil recovery
Exploitation
Fracture mechanics
Gravitation
Gravity
Kinetic Modelling
Kinetics
Oil
Oil exploration
Oil recovery
Porous Media
Sand
Studies
Sulfur
Thermal Upgrading
Upgrading
Vacuum
Viscosity
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Summary:Technologies merging enhanced oil recovery with in situ upgrading can significantly increase the economic and environmental efficiency of unconventional oil exploitation. This work targets understanding the effects of thermal processing in a porous medium at moderate temperatures (340–370°C) and residence time between 12 and 48h for Athabasca bitumen. The main limitation for upgrading via thermal cracking in the reservoir is the formation of coke precursors. Vacuum residue (VR) conversions above 32% fail to produce a stable product. Below 32% VR conversion transporting oil properties are just slightly improved. Product viscosity is reduced by 1–2 orders of magnitude, while moderate improvement in other properties are achieved such as 3 points increase in API gravity when stable product is the limit and 7–23% reduction in sulfur content. Additionally, coke precursors are significantly retained by the sand matrix, as analyzed by Microcarbon residue testing of the sand. This retention may in time cause damage to the porous media, thus limiting the applicability of thermal cracking as an in situ upgrading process. The presence of the porous media increases the apparent reaction order for the Vacuum Residue conversion to a second order reaction. A five lump kinetic model with seven reactions was successfully used to predict the product distribution with an overall error of 7% and excellent correlation to Arrhenius law. Obtained activation energies are in the range of 100–250kJ/mol.
ISSN:0016-2361
1873-7153
DOI:10.1016/j.fuel.2017.07.055