DOI : https://doi.org/10.18517/ijaseit.10.4.9022

A Comparative investigation on Viscosity Reduction of Heavy Crude Oil Using Organic Solvents

Rana Abbas Azeez (1), Firas K. AL-Zuhairi (2), Aqeel Al-Adili (3)
(1) Petroleum Technology Department, University of Technology - Iraq, Baghdad, 00964, Iraq
(2) Petroleum Technology Department, University of Technology - Iraq, Baghdad, 00964, Iraq
(3) Petroleum Technology Department, University of Technology - Iraq, Baghdad, 00964, Iraq
Fulltext View | Download
How to cite (IJASEIT) :
Azeez, Rana Abbas, et al. “A Comparative Investigation on Viscosity Reduction of Heavy Crude Oil Using Organic Solvents”. International Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology, vol. 10, no. 4, Aug. 2020, pp. 1675-81, doi:10.18517/ijaseit.10.4.9022.
Citation Format :
The transport of heavy crude oil from the head-well to the refinery plants is an attractive factor as its production is currently increasing around the world. Though the higher viscosity increases trouble in the piping transportation and production from the reservoir, for these reasons, this study focuses on the dilution method to reduce its viscosity using toluene, dimethyl ketone (DMK) and a mixture of (50/50 vol. %) toluene/dimethyl ketone as a dilutes solvents with different weight fraction (0, 5, 10 and 15 wt. %) at 298.15 K. The heavy oil used collected from Amara oil field, south of Iraq. The viscosity was measured by Brookfield viscometer over a range of shear rates (0 - 42s-1). On another way to understand the effect of temperature, the better result for weight fraction of solvents in viscosity reduction of heavy oil was investigated under different temperatures (298.15, 308.15 and 318.15 K). The obtained results showed dilution of heavy oil samples with toluene, DMK and a mixture of (50/50 vol. %) toluene and DMK is an effective method for reducing the viscosity. Moreover, the temperature has a significant effect on the degree of viscosity reduction in the presence of the diluents. However, the higher DVR was noticed about 87.17 % at 15 wt.% of the mixture (50/50 vol. %) toluene + DMK at 318.15 K and shear rate 42 s-1. Tthe relevant results attribute to an aromatic characteristic of toluene which allows interferes in the asphaltene aggregation.

S. W. Hasan, M. T.Ghanna, and N. Esmail, “Heavy crude oil viscosity reduction and rheology for pipeline transportation,” Fuel, vol. 89, pp.1095-1100, 2010.

M. T. Ghannam, and N. Esmail, “Flow enhancement of medium-viscosity crude oil,” Petrol. Sci. Technol., vol. 24, pp. 985-999, 2006.

I. C. V. M. Santos, P. F. Oliveira, and C. R. E. Mansur, “Factors that affect crude oil viscosity and techniques to reduce it: A review,” Braz. J. Pet. Gas, vol. 11, pp.115-130 , 2017.

S. Mohammadi, M. A. Sobati, and M. T.Sadeghi,“Viscosity reduction of heavy crude oil by dilution methods: new correlations for the prediction of the kinematic viscosity of blends,” IJOGS, vol. 8, pp. 60-77, 2019.

A. Saniere, I. Hí©naut, and J.F. Argillier, “Pipeline transportation of heavy oils a strategic, economic and technological challenge,” Oil Gas Sci. Technol., vol.59, pp. 455-466, 2004.

O. A. Alomair, and A. S. Almusallam, “Heavy crude oil viscosity reduction andthe impact of asphaltene precipitation,” Energy Fuels, vol. 27, pp.7267-7276, 2013.

J. Ancheyta, G. Centeno, F. Trejo, G. Marroquin ,J. A. Garcia, E. Tenorio, and A. Torres, “Extraction and characterization of asphaltenes from different crude oils and solvents,” Energy Fuels, vol. 16, pp. 1121-1127, 2002.

M. A. Rahimi, S.A. A. Ramazani, H. A. Alijanvand, M. H. Ghazanfari, and M. Ghanavati,“Effect of ultrasonic irradiation treatment on rheological behaviour of extra heavy crude oil: A solution method for transportation improvement,” Can. J. Chem. Eng., vol. 95, pp. 83-91, 2016.

B. M. Yaghi, and A. AL-Bemania, “Heavy crude oil viscosity reduction for pipeline transportation,” Energy Sources, vol. 24, pp. 93-102, 2002.

R. Tao, and X. Xu, “ Reducing the viscosity of crude oil by pulsed electric or magnetic field,” Energy Fuels, vol. 20, pp. 2046 - 2051, 2006.

F. Homayuni, A. A. Hamidi, A. Vatani, A. A. Shaygni, and R. Faraji Dana, “Viscosity reduction of heavy and extra heavy crude oils by pulsed electric field,” Petrol. Sci. Technol., vol. 29, pp. 2052-2060, 2011.

A. H. S. Dehaghani, and M. H. Badizad, “Experimental study of Iranian heavy crude oil viscosity reduction by diluting with heptane, methanol, toluene, gas condensate and naphtha,” petroleum, vol. 2 , pp. 415-424, 2016.

P. Gateau, I. Hí©naut, L. Barrí©, and J.F. Argillier, “Heavy oil dilution,” Oil Gas Sci. Technol., vol. 59, pp. 503-509,2004.

J. Aburto, E. Mar-Juarez, and C. Juarez-Soto, “Transportation of heavy and extra-heavy crude oil by pipeline: a patent review for technological options,” Recent Pat. Chem. Eng., vol. 2, pp. 86 - 97, 2009.

H. Nourozieh, M. Kariznovi, and J. Abedi, “Viscosity measurement and modeling for mixtures of Athabasca bitumen/hexane,” J. Pet. Sci. Eng., vol. 129, pp.159-167, 2015.

C. A. Popoola, J. A. Ayo, O. E. Adedeji, and O. Akinleye, “Triethanolamine (TEA) as for improver for heavy crude oil,” IOSR-JAC, vol. 8, pp. 34-38, 2015.

S. Mortazavi-Manesh, and J. M. Shaw, “Effect of diluents on the rheological properties of Maya crude oil,” Energy Fuels, vol. 30, pp. 766-772, 2016.

G. M. Narro, C. P. Vazquez, and O. Gonzalez, “Viscosity reduction of heavy crude oil by dilution with hydrocarbons obtained via chemical recycling of plastic wastes,” Petrol. Sci. Technol., vol. 37, pp.1347-1354, 2019.

S. Mozaffari, P. Tchoukov, J. Atias, J. Czarnecki, and N. Nazemifard, “Effect of asphaltene aggregation on rheological properties of diluted athabasca bitumen, “Energy Fuels, vol. 29, pp. 5595-5599, 2015.

J. F. P. Bassane, C. M. S. Sad, D. M. C. Neto, D. F. Santos, M. Silva, F. C. Tozzi , P. R . Figueres, E. V.R. Castro, W. Romí£o, M. F. P. Santos, O. R. Silva Josí©, and Jr. V. Lacerda, “Study of the effect of temperature and gas condensate addition on the viscosity of heavy oils,” J. Pet. Sci. Eng., vol. 142, pp. 163-169, 2016.

R. Martí­nez-Palou, M. de L. Mosqueira, B. Zapata-Rendón, E. Mar-Juí¡rez, C. Bernal-Huicochea, J. de la Cruz Clavel-López, and J. Aburto, “Transportation of heavy and extra-heavy crude oil by pipeline: A review,” J. Pet. Sci. Eng., vol. 75, pp. 274-282, 2011.

H. Quan, and L. Xing, “The effect of hydrogen bonds between flow improvers with asphaltene for heavy crude oil, “Fuel, vol. 237, pp. 276-282, 2019.

M. T. Ghannam, S. W. Hasan, B. Abu-Jdayil, and N. Esmail, “Rheological properties of heavy & light crude oil mixtures for improving flowability,” J. Pet. Sci. Eng., vol. 81, pp. 122-128, 2012.

Q. Chen, Y. Zhu, M. Wang, G. Ren, Q. Liu, Z. Xu, and D. Sun, “Viscosity reduction of extra-heavy oil using toluene in water emulsions,” Colloids Surf. A., vol. 560, pp. 252-259, 2019.

T. E. Chí¡vez-Miyauchi, L. S. Zamudio-Rivera, and V. Barba-López, “Aromatic polyisobutylene succinimides as viscosity reducers with asphaltene dispersion capability for heavy and extra-heavy crude oils,” Energy Fuels, vol. 27(4), pp. 1994-2001, 2013.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
    2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
    3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).