An Experimental Investigation of In Situ Combustion in High Permeability Contrast Systems

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Melek Deniz Paker ◽  
Murat Cinar
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Combustion Front ◽  
Fractured Reservoirs ◽  
Front Propagation ◽  
High Permeability ◽  
Vertical Orientation ◽  
In Situ Combustion ◽  
Horizontal Orientation

Abstract A significant portion of world oil reserves reside in naturally fractured reservoirs and a considerable amount of these resources includes heavy oil and bitumen. Thermal enhanced oil recovery methods (EOR) are mostly applied in heavy oil reservoirs to improve oil recovery. In situ combustion (/SC) is one of the thermal EOR methods that could be applicable in a variety of reservoirs. Unlike steam, heat is generated in situ due to the injection of air or oxygen enriched air into a reservoir. Energy is provided by multi-step reactions between oxygen and the fuel at particular temperatures underground. This method upgrades the oil in situ while the heaviest fraction of the oil is burned during the process. The application of /SC in fractured reservoirs is challenging since the injected air would flow through the fracture and a small portion of oil in the/near fracture would react with the injected air. Only a few researchers have studied /SC in fractured or high permeability contrast systems experimentally. For in situ combustion to be applied in fractured systems in an efficient way, the underlying mechanism needs to be understood. In this study, the major focus is permeability variation that is the most prominent feature of fractured systems. The effect of orientation and width of the region with higher permeability on the sustainability of front propagation are studied. The contrast in permeability was experimentally simulated with sand of different particle size. These higher permeability regions are analogous to fractures within a naturally fractured rock. Several /SC tests with sand-pack were carried out to obtain a better understanding of the effect of horizontal vertical, and combined (both vertical and horizontal) orientation of the high permeability region with respect to airflow to investigate the conditions that are required for a self-sustained front propagation and to understand the fundamental behavior. Within the experimental conditions of the study, the test results showed that combustion front propagated faster in the higher permeability region. In addition, horizontal orientation almost had no effect on the sustainability of the front; however, it affected oxygen consumption, temperature, and velocity of the front. On the contrary, the vertical orientation of the higher permeability region had a profound effect on the sustainability of the combustion front. The combustion behavior was poorer for the tests with vertical orientation, yet the produced oil AP/ gravity was higher. Based on the experimental results a mechanism has been proposed to explain the behavior of combustion front in systems with high permeability contrast.

Effects of Steam on Heavy Oil Combustion

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (04) ◽  
pp. 508-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Lapene ◽  
Louis Castanier ◽  
Gerald Debenest ◽  
Michel Yves Quintard ◽  
Arjan Matheus Kamp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Combustion Front ◽  
Oil Viscosity ◽  
In Situ Combustion ◽  
Temperature Oxidation ◽  
Recovery Method

Summary In-Situ Combustion. In-situ combustion (ISC) is an enhanced oil-recovery method. Enhanced oil recovery is broadly described as a group of techniques used to extract crude oil from the subsurface by the injection of substances not originally present in the reservoir with or without the introduction of extraneous energy (Lake 1996). During ISC, a combustion front is propagated through the reservoir by injected air. The heat generated results in higher temperatures leading to a reduction in oil viscosity and an increase of oil mobility. There are two types of ISC processes, dry and wet combustion. In the dry-combustion process, a large part of the heat generated is left unused downstream of the combustion front in the burned-out region. During the wet-injection process, water is co-injected with the air to recover some of the heat remaining behind the combustion zone. ISC is a very complex process. From a physical point of view, it is a problem coupling transport in porous media, chemistry, and thermodynamics. It has been studied for several decades, and the technique has been applied in the field since the 1950s. The complexity was not well understood earlier by ISC operators. This resulted in a high rate of project failures in the 1960s, and contributed to the misconception that ISC is a problem-prone process with low probability of success. However, ISC is an attractive oil-recovery process and capable of recovering a high percentage of oil-in-place, if the process is designed correctly and implemented in the right type of reservoir (Sarathi 1999). This paper investigates the effect of water on the reaction kinetics of a heavy oil by way of ramped temperature oxidation under various conditions. Reactions. Earlier studies about reaction kinetic were conducted by Bousaid and Ramey (1968), Weijdema (1968), Dabbous and Fulton (1974), and Thomas et al. (1979). In these experiments, temperature of a sample of crude oil and solid matrix was increased over time or kept constant. The produced gas was analyzed to determine the concentrations of outlet gases, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and oxygen. This kind of studies shows two types of oxidation reactions, the Low-Temperature Oxidation (LTO) and the High-Temperature Oxidation (HTO) (Burger and Sahuquet 1973; Fassihi et al. 1984a; Mamora et al. 1993). In 1984, Fassihi et al. (1984b) presented an analytical method to obtain kinetics parameters. His method requires several assumptions.

Fuel Formation and Conversion During In-Situ Combustion of Crude Oil

SPE Journal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (06) ◽  
pp. 1217-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hascakir Berna ◽  
Cynthia M. Ross ◽  
Louis M. Castanier ◽  
Anthony R. Kovscek
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Photoelectron Spectroscopy ◽  
Combustion Front ◽  
Combustion Products ◽  
Combustion Tube ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
In Situ Combustion ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Study Results

Summary In-situ combustion (ISC) is a successful method with great potential for thermal enhanced oil recovery. Field applications of ISC are limited, however, because the process is complex and not well-understood. A significant open question for ISC is the formation of coke or "fuel" in correct quantities that is sufficiently reactive to sustain combustion. We study ISC from a laboratory perspective in 1 m long combustion tubes that allow the monitoring of the progress of the combustion front by use of X-ray computed tomography (CT) and temperature profiles. Two crude oils—12°API (986 kg/m3) and 9°API (1007 kg/m3)—are studied. Cross-sectional images of oil movement and banking in situ are obtained through the appropriate analysis of the spatially and temporally varying CT numbers. Combustion-tube runs are quenched before front breakthrough at the production end, thereby permitting a post-mortem analysis of combustion products and, in particular, the fuel (coke and coke-like residues) just downstream of the combustion front. Fuel is analyzed with both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS and SEM results are used to identify the shape, texture, and elemental composition of fuel in the X-ray CT images. The SEM and XPS results aid efforts to differentiate among combustion-tube results with significant and negligible amounts of clay minerals. Initial results indicate that clays increase the surface area of fuel deposits formed, and this aids combustion. In addition, comparisons are made of coke-like residues formed during experiments under an inert nitrogen atmosphere and from in-situ combustion. Study results contribute to an improved mechanistic understanding of ISC, fuel formation, and the role of mineral substrates in either aiding or impeding combustion. CT imaging permits inference of the width and movement of the fuel zone in situ.

Improving heavy oil oxidation performance by oil-dispersed CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in In-situ combustion process for enhanced oil recovery

Fuel ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 285 ◽  
pp. 119216
Author(s):  
Seyedsaeed Mehrabi-Kalajahi ◽  
Mikhail A. Varfolomeev ◽  
Chengdong Yuan ◽  
Almaz L. Zinnatullin ◽  
Nikolay O. Rodionov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Combustion Process ◽  
Oil Oxidation ◽  
Cofe2o4 Nanoparticles ◽  
In Situ Combustion ◽  
Oxidation Performance

Enhancement of the efficiency of in situ combustion technique for heavy-oil recovery by application of nickel ions

Fuel ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 397-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Hamedi Shokrlu ◽  
Y. Maham ◽  
X. Tan ◽  
T. Babadagli ◽  
M. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Heavy Oil Recovery ◽  
In Situ Combustion ◽  
Nickel Ions ◽  
Combustion Technique

A New, Fast, and Efficient Method for Evaluating the Influence of Catalysts on In-Situ Combustion Process for Heavy Oil Recovery

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamil Sadikov ◽  
Chengdong Yuan ◽  
Seyed Saeed Mehrabi-Kalajahi ◽  
Mikhail A. Varfolomeev ◽  
Sarvardzhon A. Talipov
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Efficient Method ◽  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Combustion Process ◽  
Heavy Oil Recovery ◽  
In Situ Combustion

Predictability of Crude Oil In-Situ Combustion by the Isoconversional Kinetic Approach

SPE Journal ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (03) ◽  
pp. 537-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murat Cinar ◽  
Berna Hasçakir ◽  
Louis M. Castanier ◽  
Anthony R. Kovscek
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Combustion Front ◽  
Front Propagation ◽  
Combustion Tube ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Oil Viscosity ◽  
In Situ Combustion ◽  
Temperature Oxidation ◽  
Isoconversional Analysis

Summary One method to access unconventional heavy-crude-oil resources as well as residual oil after conventional recovery operations is to apply in-situ combustion (ISC) enhanced oil recovery. ISC oxidizes in place a small fraction of the hydrocarbon, thereby providing heat to reduce oil viscosity and increase reservoir pressure. Both effects serve to enhance recovery. The complex nature of petroleum as a multicomponent mixture and the multistep character of combustion reactions substantially complicate analysis of crude-oil oxidation and the identification of settings where ISC could be successful. In this study, isoconversional analysis of ramped temperature-oxidation (RTO) kinetic data was applied to eight different crude-oil samples. In addition, combustion-tube runs that explore ignition and combustion-front propagation were carried out. By using experimentally determined combustion kinetics of eight crude-oil samples along with combustion-tube results, we show that isoconversional analysis of RTO data is useful to predict combustion-front propagation. Isoconversional analysis also provides new insight into the nature of the reactions occurring during ISC. Additionally, five of the 10 crude-oil/rock systems studied employed a carbonate rock. No system displayed excessive oxygen consumption resulting from carbonate decomposition at combustion temperatures. This result is encouraging as it contributes to widening of the applicability of ISC.

Research of Lifting Technology of Combustion In Situ

2011 ◽  
Vol 347-353 ◽  
pp. 3219-3222
Author(s):  
Xi Shun Zhang ◽  
Xiao Dong Wu ◽  
Shu Qin Ma
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Heavy Oil ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Technical Support ◽  
Recovery Ratio ◽  
Heavy Component ◽  
In Situ Combustion ◽  
Dynamic Displacement

In-situ combustion (fire flooding) is one of important methods to improve heavy oil recovery ratio, utilizing the reservoir itself heavy component burning as dynamic displacement of crude oil, improving the crude oil character, flooding efficiency is high, applicability is extensive, and other recover techniques can not match. But the technical support is difficult and broad, and is the key in restricting the effect of in-situ combustion, especially for the effectiveness of development. With the increase of fire flooding development, flowing wells turns to artificial lifting wells, the gas production increases deeply, and the lifting technology faces a lot of new problems. Aiming at the problems of combustion in-situ, the relevant technologies were researched, then some methods and measures suiting to heavy oil fire flooding technology were proposed. And it provided reference for researching of deep heavy oil fire flooding lifting technology in the future.

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of In-Situ Combustion in a Fractured Core

SPE Journal ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. 358-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.. Fadaei ◽  
L.. Castanier ◽  
A.M.. M. Kamp ◽  
G.. Debenest ◽  
M.. Quintard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Combustion Front ◽  
Fractured Reservoirs ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Combustion Tube ◽  
Fractured Reservoir ◽  
In Situ Combustion ◽  
Matrix Permeability ◽  
The Matrix

Summary Approximately one-third of global heavy-oil resources can be found in fractured reservoirs. In spite of its strategic importance, recovery of heavy crudes from fractured reservoirs has found few applications because of the complexity of such reservoirs. In-situ combustion (ISC) is a candidate process for such reservoirs, especially for those where steam injection is not feasible. Experimental studies reported in the literature on this topic mentioned a cone-shaped combustion front, indicating that the process was governed by diffusion of oxygen into the matrix. The main oil-production mechanisms were found to be thermal expansion of oil and evaporation of light components (Schulte and de Vries 1985; Greaves et al. 1991). In order to confirm these results, we carried out reservoir-simulation studies presented in Fadaei et al. (2010). We have shown that the front has the shape of a cone, and we have performed a combustion/extinction analysis representing the results in a diagram of cumulative production vs. diffusion coefficient and matrix permeability. Before obtaining quantitative and qualitative comparisons, we need to characterize the systems we want to study. Therefore, we also carried out laboratory experiments using kinetic cells and combustion tubes. The kinetic-cell studies showed that the presence of carbonates has a significant effect on combustion kinetics. Our combustion-tube studies confirmed the previously observed coneshaped front. Previous studies reported in literature used heating elements along the combustion tube to regulate the temperature, which may have caused some undue heating of the core. To avoid that, we chose to use efficient insulation to minimize heat losses. Combustion advanced faster in nonconsolidated matrix, in which the permeability was higher than in consolidated matrix. The results showed that the presence of severe heterogeneities may prevent the combustion front from propagating. Several runs were performed for different air-injection rates and pressures and for different permeability contrasts between the matrix and the fracture. The next step of our work is the upscaling of ISC in the fractured reservoir at interwell scale on the basis of knowledge provided by simulation and experimental studies.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document