Physical and Numerical Simulation of an Extra-Heavy Crude Oil Downhole Upgrading Process Using Hydrogen Donors Under Cyclic Steam Injection Conditions SPE 69561
Language: Inglés Series: Ovalles, Cesar ; Publication details: Dallas, Texas Society of Petroleum Engineers 2001Online resources: Summary: Physical simulation experiments of a Downhole Upgrading Process showed that use of a hydrogen donor additive (tetralin) in the presence of methane (natural gas) and the mineral formation under steam injection conditions (280°C and residence times greater than 24 h) led to an increase of at least three degree in API gravity of the treated Extra-Heavy Crude Oil, three-fold viscosity reduction and, approximately, 8% decrease in the asphaltene content with respect to the original crude. In the present work, a continuous bench scale plant was used at different temperatures (280-315°C) and residence times (24-64 h) for carrying out kinetic studies. A reaction model involving four pseudo-components (light, medium, heavy and asphaltene fractions) was used and the kinetic parameters (pre-exponential factors and activation energies) were determined. Using these data, compositional-thermal numerical simulations were carried out and validated using the bench scale data. The results showed a good match between the calculated and experimental °API gravities of the upgraded crude oil (average relative error 4%) Using the previous model, the Downhole Upgrading Process was numerically simulated under cyclic steam injection conditions (injection of 2500 bbl/d of 1:1 steam/tetralin with 75% quality steam) for 20 days, followed by 10 days of soaking period) in a typical Orinoco Basin reservoir (9°API). The simulation runs showed the production of 12°API upgraded crude oil, accumulated over a 100 day-cycle. However, a reduction in the percentage of conversion of tetralin was observed (0.8%) in comparison with the bench scale experiments (3%), which was attributed to gravitational segregation of the steam coupled with low mixing efficiency of the hydrogen donor with the extra-heavy crude oil at reservoir conditions.| Current library | Status | Barcode | |
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Physical simulation experiments of a Downhole Upgrading Process showed that use of a hydrogen donor additive (tetralin) in the presence of methane (natural gas) and the mineral formation under steam injection conditions (280°C and residence times greater than 24 h) led to an increase of at least three degree in API gravity of the treated Extra-Heavy Crude Oil, three-fold viscosity reduction and, approximately, 8% decrease in the asphaltene content with respect to the original crude. In the present work, a continuous bench scale plant was used at different temperatures (280-315°C) and residence times (24-64 h) for carrying out kinetic studies. A reaction model involving four pseudo-components (light, medium, heavy and asphaltene fractions) was used and the kinetic parameters (pre-exponential factors and activation energies) were determined. Using these data, compositional-thermal numerical simulations were carried out and validated using the bench scale data. The results showed a good match between the calculated and experimental °API gravities of the upgraded crude oil (average relative error 4%) Using the previous model, the Downhole Upgrading Process was numerically simulated under cyclic steam injection conditions (injection of 2500 bbl/d of 1:1 steam/tetralin with 75% quality steam) for 20 days, followed by 10 days of soaking period) in a typical Orinoco Basin reservoir (9°API). The simulation runs showed the production of 12°API upgraded crude oil, accumulated over a 100 day-cycle. However, a reduction in the percentage of conversion of tetralin was observed (0.8%) in comparison with the bench scale experiments (3%), which was attributed to gravitational segregation of the steam coupled with low mixing efficiency of the hydrogen donor with the extra-heavy crude oil at reservoir conditions.
