Effect of enhanced-oil-recovery chemicals on crude refining. Final report

Technical Report · Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6076833

Brubaker, I M; Hilfman, L; Malloy, T P

The purpose of this project is to study the refining processibility of crude oils produced during enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations using chemical flooding techniques. Results indicate that: (1) Preparative distillation of crude oils containing surfactants produced several effects depending on the structure of the surfactant and the nature of the crude oil - (a) complete destruction of the surfactant; (b) concentration of the surfactant in the vacuum resid fraction; and (c) complexation of the surfactant with hetero-species in the crude oil and possible concentration in the vacuum resid. (2) The activity of a RCD Unibon (BOC) catalyst was reduced when a vacuum resid fraction with a sodium-containing surfactant was processed. The exchange of sodium by ammonium ion produced a surfactant that did not reduce the catalytic activity. (3) The sodium and surfactant levels in EOR crude oils studied can be reduced by desalting, a typical treatment for whole crude oil. (4) Solvent extraction (Demex) of surfactant-containing vacuum resids produced an oil and pitch comparable in quality to those produced by extraction of virgin resids. The sodium contents of the products of the surfactant-doped resid were higher than the corresponding products from the virgin resids, and the surfactant was not clearly separated into either phase. (5) Low Pressure Coking was not affected by the presence of the sodium sulfonate-containing surfactant in the City of Long Beach vacuum resid. The surfactant was destroyed during the process. (6) The sodium sulfonate-based surfactant in the City of Long Beach crude oil did not have an adverse effect on the fouling properties of the crude oil.

• Research Organization: UOP, Inc., Des Plaines, IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC19-78ET12385
• OSTI ID: 6076833
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/12385-1; ON: DE83012473
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
MICROEMULSION FLOODING
SURFACTANTS
PETROLEUM
CONTAMINATION
REFINING
SULFONATES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
REMOVAL
CATALYSTS
CATALYTIC EFFECTS
DESALINATION
DISTILLATION
ENHANCED RECOVERY
OIL WELLS
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
DEMINERALIZATION
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUID INJECTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
RECOVERY
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WELLS
020400* - Petroleum- Processing
020300 - Petroleum- Drilling & Production