Air Injection Studies For Enhanced Oil Recovery

Air Injection Studies For Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract

Conventionally, air injection has been used for recovery of heavy crude oil painting in the product field, but studies have shown that reduction of light crude oil painting in the force leads to abandonment of similar wells. Hence, this work studied the kinetics and combustion of light crude oil painting in- situ the force to understand their capabilities for high- pressure air injection( HPAI) enhanced oil painting recovery( EOR). Advanced thermo-kinetic simulation and Pressure- Volume- Temperature tools( AKTS and PVTsim) were coupled withnon-isothermal Differential Scanning Calorimetry( DSC) measures and Accelerating Rate Calorimeter( bow) for the studies. The combustion and kinetics of three( 3) light crude canvases attained from Offshore of Newfoundland, Canada were precisely described by the styles. It was observed that the crude with the smallest API of30.214 had the smallest enthalpy change of10.9 J/ g and the loftiest onset oxidation temperature of 220 oC, while the crude with the loftiest API graveness of46.963 had the loftiest enthalpy of24.6 J/ g and the smallest onset oxidation temperature of 140 oC. Effect of 10 water achromatism of one of the crude samples( Sample A) was studied and it was observed that there was increase in the onset oxidation temperature by 40 oC and lowering of the enthalpy change by 9 J/ g. These findings handed substantiation that the protean Differential Scanning Calorimetry thermograms when coupled with kinetic simulation fashion can yield dependable results with respect to oil painting recovery with high correlation measure( r>0.9). This dependable information similar as onset, peak and endset temperatures with their separate heat inflow patterns, could also be used to give precise thermo-kinetic parameters. Kinetic triumvirates similar as activation energy,pre-exponential and the response model necessary for force webbing in an air injection EOR process can also be directly determined. Mine chase containing high pyrrhotite content were also used as catalyst to study its effect on the onset oxidation temperature of the crude canvases using bow. An quantum of 20 chase in crude oil painting lowered the average onset oxidation temperature from 148 oC to 116 oC. It also had the widest oxidation temperature range of 63 oC between the onset and endset temperature, as well as the loftiest pressure drop of2.4 bar, which signifies high conversion in the crude oil painting oxidation response as well as product of miscible stovepipe gas which favoured enhanced oil painting recovery process. Products of air combustion products in- situ was studied as an injectant in a light oil painting Nigerian force using a simulated slim tube trial and was observed than stovepipe gas products from air oxidation at high temperature and pressure favoured enhanced oil painting recovery.

Preamble

Enhanced oil painting Recovery( EOR) is a tertiary recovery process which is typically applied after primary and secondary recovery, to rally oil painting trapped in pores by vicious capillary forces. Thermal, chemical, solvent and feasts are the most common form of colorful EOR process( Isco, 2007). Due to the decline of oil painting reserves caused by the rising oil painting product, and clamours for environmentally friendly practice in EOR ways, petroleum masterminds are presently driving EOR systems towards more effective ways. One of similar effective fashion is the Air/ Stovepipe gas injection which is motivated by affordable source of air as well as environmentally friendly carbon- dioxide insulation. The provocation for the use of air as an injectant in the EOR design is because of its cornucopia, vacuity and low cost. It can simply be supplied by the use of a compressor, with overall design having low original and operating cost in comparison to other EOR styles( JOGMEC, 2011).

Air for adding oil painting recovery from budgets dates back to the 1940’s and early 1950’s( Hvizdos etal., 1983) and by the 1960s and 1970, about forty( 40) in- situ full field or airman systems had been accepted throughout the world with North America beating similar systems( Pwaga etal., 2010). This fashion, piecemeal from laboratory studies has been enforced in fields similar as West Hackberry in Louisiana, Horse Creek North and South Dakota, Zhongyuan and Liaoche oil painting fields in China, H field in Indonesia, South Bridge in California and other countries similar as Romania, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, India, Argentina, Venezuela have maintained laboratory and field studies too( Sakthikumar etal., 1996; Ren etal., 1999; Mendoza etal., 2011; Niu etal., 2011; Iwata etal., 2001 Xia etal., 2004; Zhu etal., 2001). Air has also been used in heavy oil painting recovery and improvement of this fashion can lead to significant light oil painting product( Surguchev etal., 1998).

An volition to air injection is the stovepipe gas( which contains nitrogen and carbon- dioxide) produced from the combustion of oxygen contained in the air to sweep oil painting. This EOR fashion, when applied to light oil painting is known as light oil painting air injection while in heavy oil painting force, it’s called in- situ combustion.( Kuhlman, 2004; Teramoto etal., 2006; Turta etal., 2007; Li etal., 2009).