Development of New Amphiphilic Catalytic Steam Additives for Hydrothermal Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques

Abstract

In this paper, we propose the synthesis of green amphiphilic catalysts based on two metals: Ni and Al. The amphiphilic characteristics of the obtained catalyst were provided by alkylbenzenesulfonic acid (ABSA). The end product was thoroughly characterized by the FTIR analysis method. The efficiency of both catalysts was tested by modeling the catalytic hydrothermal upgrading of heavy-oil samples from Ashal’cha field (Russia) in a high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) reactor with a stirrer at a temperature of 250 °C. The physical and chemical properties of the heavy oils and their fractions were studied before and after the catalytic hydrothermal upgrading by analytical procedures such as SARA analysis, FTIR spectroscopy, GC–MS, elemental analysis, gas chromatography, etc. The results showed that both catalysts had a different influence on the viscosity-reduction degree. It was revealed that the contribution of Al ABSA to the viscosity reduction was the highest: more than 80% in contrast to the initial crude oil sample. The Al-based catalyst showed the best activity in hydrogenation and decarbonization, and hence the H/C ratio of the upgraded oil was at a maximum in the presence of Al ABSA.