Comparison of conventional and catalytic in situ combustion processes for oil recovery

Abuhesa, MBA; Hughes, R

Abstract

Laboratory in situ combustion experiments were performed to test the concept of using in situ combustion
to catalytically upgrade a medium-heavy Clair crude oil (19.8° API), using a low-pressure combustion cell.
Tests were performed for both noncatalytic and catalytic procedures and for both dry and wet forward combustion
runs. The results showed that the presence of catalyst promotes the combustion reactions and the resultant oil
was upgraded by up to 11 points. High oil recoveries were achieved for all runs and ranged from ∼53 to 74%
original oil-in-place. The highest oil recovery was achieved during wet noncatalytic tests, while the lowest
was achieved during the dry catalytic tests.

Citation

Abuhesa, M., & Hughes, R. (2009). Comparison of conventional and catalytic in situ combustion processes for oil recovery. https://doi.org/10.1021/ef800804a

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 8, 2008
• Publication Date: Jan 22, 2009
• Deposit Date: Apr 20, 2022
• Journal: Energy & Fuels
• Print ISSN: 0887-06241520-5029
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 186-192
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/ef800804a
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1021/ef800804a
• Related Public URLs: https://pubs.acs.org/journal/enfuem