The spontaneous ignition potential of a super-light crude oil

✍ Scribed by S.A Abu-Khamsin; A Iddris; M.A Aggour

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 199 KB
• Volume: 80
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/s0016-2361(01)00014-x

✦ Synopsis

The spontaneous ignition potential of a super-light crude oil was investigated employing adiabatic, packed-bed reactors. Various process parameters such as initial reactor temperature, oxidant gas ¯ux, oxygen concentration in the oxidant gas, initial oil and water saturations and reactor pressure were varied to determine the set of conditions that would cause the sand±oil mixture to ignite spontaneously. All attempts to ignite the oil failed even when very favorable ignition conditions were tested including 1748C initial temperature, 7340 kPa reactor pressure, 40% oxygen in the oxidant gas and 26 h of oxidation time. Failure of the super-light crude to self-ignite was thought to be due to its low content of unsaturates, mainly aromatics and asphaltenes.