In-situ oxidation of crude oils for enhanced recovery by alkaline flooding

✍ Scribed by Vivien J. Cambridge; W.David Constant; M.Amine Dahmani; Charles A. Whitehurst; Joanne M. Wolcott

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 663 KB
• Volume: 65
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-2361(86)90226-7

✦ Synopsis

Crude oils with acid numbers too low to warrant alkaline flooding for enhanced oil recovery were subjected to in-situ air oxidation in unconsolidated cores at temperatures corresponding to reservoir conditions. The oxidation process resulted in a significant increase in the acid number of the crudes studied. Acid numbers were found to increase with temperature, air flow rate, pressure, and reaction time and were found to be affected by the core and crude composition. The range of conditions studied include temperatures of 75 125"C, pressures of 0.343.10MPa

[5&45Opsig], reaction times of 24-504h and core flow rates of & 1.41 m h-' (cl 11 ft day-'). Oxidized crudes were found to have much lower caustic/crude interfacial tensions than the parent crude. Flooding experiments in unconsolidated cores showed an improved recovery efficiency for an oxidized crude over its parent crude.