Laboratory Experiments and Field Test of a Difunctional Catalyst for Catalytic Aquathermolysis of Heavy Oil

Energy Fuels, 2012, 26 (2), pp 1152–1159

Laboratory Experiments and Field Test of a Difunctional Catalyst for Catalytic Aquathermolysis of Heavy Oil

Kun Chao†, Yanling Chen‡§*, Huachao Liu‡, Xianmin Zhang‡, and Jian Li†

ylchen@cug.edu.cn

† Faculty of Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China

‡ Faculty of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China

§ Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources of Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China

Abstract

Researchers synthesize, for the first time, a kind of difunctional catalyst—alkyl ester sulfonate copper, which not only has the catalytic center but also has the hydrogen precursor structure.  It has been used for catalytic aquathermolysis of super heavy oils both in the laboratory and field.

Experimental results show that, although its viscosity is about 1.81 × 10⁵ mPa·s at 70 °C, the viscosity of heavy oil could be reduced by 90.72% using 0.3 wt % catalyst at 240 °C for 24 h, with 10.12% in conversion of heavy content to light content. To evaluate the catalyst’s high performance, the structure and group compositions of the oil were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), elemental analysis (EL), gel permeation chromatrography (GPC), ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR), and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). It is found that the catalyst can not only enhance the viscosity reduction of heavy oil, but also remove some heteroatoms from its molecules, finally make the flow properties better and the quality upgrading. In field tests of the F10223 well of the Xinjiang Oilfield, the preliminary result has also proved the evident effects of the catalyst.

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