Underground Upgrading of the Heavy Crude Oil in Content-Saturated Sandstone with Aquathermolysis in the Presence of an Iron Based Catalyst

Increasing the efficiency of thermal recovery methods is an important and relevant task. This study is devoted to reducing heavy components (resins and asphaltenes) and quality improvement of heavy oil by catalytic hydrothermal treatment. The object of this study is a bituminous sandstone sample from the Ashal’cha reservoir. The catalytic (iron tallate) hydrothermal simulation was carried out under reservoir conditions (200 °C, 30 bar). The composition and physicochemical characteristics of the products were studied using elemental and SARA analysis, MALDI, GC-MS, FT-IR. Moreover, the extracted rock is analyzed in XRD and DSA (Drop Shape Analyzer). The introduction of catalyst in combination with a hydrogen donor reduces the content of resins by 22.0%wt. with an increase in the share of saturated hydrocarbons by 27%wt. The destructive hydrogenation leads to a decrease in the sulfur content of upgrading products. This is crucial for the oil reservoirs of the Tatarstan Republic, as their crude oils are characterized by high sulfur content. According to the wettability data, the hydrophilicity of the rock surface increases due to inhibition of the coke formation after the introduction of the catalytic complex. Thus, the oil recovery factor can be increased due to the alteration of the oil-wetting properties of reservoir rocks.