In-Situ Upgrading In a Dolomite Porous Medium: A Kinetic Model Comparison and Nanocatalyst Deposition Study

Abstract Heavy oil extraction currently presents economic and environmental challenges due to low prices and costly energy usage for their exploitation and transport. The use of heavy oil as a sustainable source of energy requires novel and well-engineered technologies. In-Situ (in-reservoir) Upgrading Technology, ISUT, is an EOR-Upgrading process that combines the use of a hot dense fluid (i.e., vacuum distillation residue), hydrogen, and a nanocatalyst as upgrading agents. The operating control of this technology requires performance assessment and kinetic database for each application and each type of reservoir with specific rock-oil in place characteristics. In this work, a hydrocracking kinetic study is developed based on experiments carried out in a dolomite corepack using temperatures from 335 oC to 365 oC, residence times of 12 h – 72 h under the constant pressure of 10 MPag, which are the typical ISUT’s conditions for carbonate reservoirs. By using kinetic modelling, the operating temperatures were compared with a previous kinetic model, finding similar yields/reaction time performance results. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) techniques were used to analyze the nanocatalyst particles on the dolomite corepack’s surface. The nanocatalysts deposited on the rock were in the range of 13 nm – 1220 nm with two types, spherical- and agglomerated-shaped. The X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF) was also used to determine metal content distributions along the corepack. Finally, ISUT’s kinetic modeling studies so far, and this one, suggest the convenience of using the same model for the reservoirs studies, which include the effects of the conditions such as temperature, pressure or residence time used during ISUT’s process application.