Study of Ionic Liquids as Effective Solvents for Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery (original) (raw)
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A Review on the Feasibility Study of Ionic Liquids for Enhanced Oil Recovery
— Injection of chemicals in reservoirs is an effective technique for improving oil recovery. The unique capabilities of ionic liquids as green materials, such as low vapor pressure, good thermal stability, lower cost of production, greater environmental compatibility and recyclability and reuse, make these compounds a good alternative to chemicals that do not have such properties. Injection of ionic liquids with the aim of reducing oil-water IFT and changing the wettability of the reservoir and a slight change in viscosity and thus improving oil recovery. In this study, a comprehensive study on ionic fluid behavior in complex hydrocarbon systems has been conducted and their effectiveness in improving recovery has been investigated. This study is a great help to new researchers in this field.
A Review on the Application of Ionic Liquids for Enhanced Oil Recovery
2017
Research is extensively ongoing on the application of ionic liquids (ILs) in technological application, particularly its application in the enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Research in this field, however, is often limited to researchers determining ionic liquids' specific behavior in the aqueous solutions. A comprehensive study is necessary to provide a complete possible understanding of the ionic liquids' surface interaction as the self-organization and micelle formation ability of ionic liquids in aqueous solution have significant effect on their applications and the environment. ILs that have surface activity are able to exhibit the critical micelle concentration (CMC) and reduce the interfacial tension (IFT) to the noticeable value even at high salinity and temperature conditions. The application of ILs as cosurfactant is also favorable to support the surfactant performance in minimizing the IFT values. This review indicates that further investigation is required to study the interphase behavior of ionic liquids in a more complex system where hydrocarbons, salts, surfactants, and other chemical additives are present. The alteration in behavior and system properties due to the interaction of ionic liquid with surfactant may determine its effectiveness in emulsion and foaming studies. These two studies are essential in the application of ionic liquids in oil and gas reservoirs, particularly water and chemical flooding to increase the recovery of oil.
Investigation of Different Ionic Liquids in Improving Oil Recovery Factor
Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science, 2019
In order to improve oil recovery, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques have been applied to several light and medium oil reservoirs. This research was directed towards the development of chemical flooding methods for such reservoirs. The main objective of this experimental work was to investigate the efficiency of introducing various types of Ionic Liquids (ILs), 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride [EMIM][Cl], 1-Benzyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride [BenzMIM][Cl], and Trihexyltetradecylphosphonium Chloride [THTDPh][Cl] on the Recovery Factor (RF) of medium oil (Weyburn oil, 30.25 API˚) at room temperature. The series of flooding experiments were carried out by introducing a slug of IL mixtures. Results demonstrated that maximum oil recovery factor was obtained when [EMIM][Cl] was added in the displacing fluid. Further investigations have been conducted to examine the effect of ILs concentrations on the recovery mechanisms by measuring Surface Tension (SFT), pH, and viscosity of the displacing phases. Finally, the effect of theses ILs in wettability alteration was examined.
Nature friendly Application of Ionic Liquids for Dissolution Enhancement of Heavy Crude Oil
SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, 2015
The upstream petroleum industry faces operational and technical challenges due to the production of crude oil containing waxes, asphaltenes and aromatic compounds and also due to the formation of gas hydrates resulting in their deposition in the surface and production equipments and in offshore pipelines affecting the safer operations, in turn resulting in huge production losses, and threatening the environment. It is also estimated that, all over the globe there are more than double the times of reserves of heavy and extra-heavy crude oil than the lighter one. In spite of this, the production of heavy oil is still low. As the world’s demand for light crude oil continues to increase tremendously, the supplies of these easily extractable crude oil continues to decrease although efforts have already been made to extract the heavy and extra-heavy oil that was previously considered uneconomical to produce and process. The enhancement in the solubility of heavy crude oil in solvent and i...
Application of Ionic Liquids in the Upstream oil Industry-A Review
Int J Petrochem Res, 2017
Ionic liquids are gaining much attention as green chemicals due to their unique properties such as extremely low vapor pressure, high thermal and chemical stability, low toxicity and possibility of tuning their cation and anion moieties to make them task-specific. In the chemical industry, they are well established for innumerable processes and applications and several review articles are available. Contrary to this the applications of ionic liquids in the upstream petroleum industry is relatively new and not enough review articles are available. This article discusses the applications of ionic liquids in areas such as CO 2 capture and separation which could be used for enhanced oil recovery and sequestration, heavy crude oil upgradation and viscosity reduction, interfacial tension and surface tension reduction in order to supplement surfactants in chemical enhanced oil recovery and asphaltene dispersion and inhibition during crude oil production and surface transportation. It aims to highlight the wide range of application possibilities of ionic liquids in the upstream sector of the petroleum industry and to encourage further research into some of these areas in order to develop environmentally friendly alternatives to current processes.
Eco-Efficient Method for the Dissolution Enhancement of Heavy Crude Oil Using Ionic Liquids
SPE Kuwait Oil and Gas Show and Conference, 2015
The upstream petroleum industry faces operational and technical challenges due to the production of crude oil containing waxes, asphaltenes and aromatic compounds and also due to the formation of gas hydrates resulting in their deposition in the surface and production equipments and in offshore pipelines affecting the safer operations, in turn resulting in huge production losses, and threatening the environment. It is also estimated that, all over the globe there are more than double the times of reserves of heavy and extra-heavy crude oil than the lighter one. As the world's demand for light crude oil continues to increase tremendously, the supplies of these easily extractable crude oil continues to decrease although efforts have already been made to extract the heavy and extra-heavy oil that was previously considered uneconomical to produce and process. The main aim of this investigation is to finding greener-environmentally friendly methods for oil and gas industries, such as the use of aromatic and aliphatic based ionic liquids for the efficient dissolution of tank-bottom sludge, heavy crude oil and pipeline wax deposition. Ionic liquids, therefore, have a tremendous scope in the application of oil recovery by assisting in recovering valuable crude oil from the oily sludge which is otherwise lost due to dumping and burning. Moreover, the ionic liquids used could be recovered and can be recycled and reused several times. The enhancement in the solubility of heavy crude oil in solvent and ionic liquids mixture is investigated using UV-Visible, FT-IR and 13 C-NMR spectroscopic techniques. It is observed that, the dissolution of heavy crude oil is more in the solution with ionic liquid than with the solvent alone. Solubility of heavy crude oil in the presence of studied ionic liquids and in the studied solvents increases about 65 %, when compared with the solutions of heavy crude oil in solvents without ionic liquids. The application of this method could also helps in the highly essential enhanced oil recovery industry.
Effect of aromatic ring, cation, and anion types of ionic liquids on heavy oil recovery
Journal of Management Science & Engineering research
Surfactant/alkali flooding is one of the best chemical flooding methods to enhance oil Recovery Factor (RF). In this research, Ionic Liquid/Alkali (ILA) mixtures were chosen to address the chemical injection technique. The selected Ionic Liquids (ILs), [EMIM][Cl], [THTDPH][Cl], [EMIM][Ac], [BzMIM][Cl], [DMIM][Cl], [BzMIM][TOS], [dMIM][TOS] and [MPyr][TOS], were introduced to investigate their efficiency in improving the extraction of heavy oil (14o API) from an unconsolidated sand pack at room conditions. Second, these ILs were mixed with synthetic formation brine (3.37 wt. % salts)/alkali (Sodium Bicarbonate [NaHCO3]). Then, 1 Pore Volume (PV) of these composites were injected and flushed with 2 PV of formation brine. The study discussed the influence of cation type, anion type, the structure of the ILs, and the effect of combining ILs and alkali on the RF. The results revealed that these ILs are efficient chemicals for enhancing the RF. ILs with shorter alkyl chain and more aromat...
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 2019
The oil industry is in search of the stable chemicals that can be applied in drilling, stimulation, enhanced oil recovery at high temperature and high salinity reservoirs, unconventional heavy oil recovery by solvent extraction method, and flow assurance. This quest has opened a new category of research on ionic liquids. In the present review, an attempt is made to explore the ongoing research and development on the application of ionic liquids in the domain of upstream oil industry. The review provides a deep insight into the progress and status of current research, challenges and utilization of ionic liquids for drilling, stimulation, enhanced oil recovery, unconventional oil recovery, and flow assurance. It is found from the literature that ionic liquids can be used to prevent shale inhibition, improve clay stabilization and drilling fluid properties, compose fracturing fluids, control wax and asphaltenes deposition, prevent gas hydrate formation, increase additional oil recovery, and improve unconventional oil recovery. It is also expected that the current review will open new avenues for the budding researchers and engineers to utilize ionic liquids in upstream oil and gas industry and to acquire profound ideas for its way forward.
The Influence of Ionic Liquid Type, Concentration, and Slug Size on Heavy Oil Recovery Performance
Brazilian Journal of Petroleum and Gas, 2017
Recent studies show that Ionic Liquids (ILs) have the ability to improve oil recovery. In this experimental study, an imidazolium-based Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid (RTIL), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([EMIM][OAc]), was used to extract heavy oil (14 °API) from unconsolidated packed sand samples. The RTIL was injected as slug, with different concentrations and sizes. The [EMIM][OAc] results were compared with the efficiency of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([BMIM][Tf 2 N]) and 1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([DMIM][Cl]) ILs. The results indicate that the efficiency of IL depends mainly on the type of IL. A comparison with a well-known commercial surfactant (Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate, SDS) was performed, and the results confirmed the higher efficiency of the ionic liquids. Changes in Interfacial Tension (IFT), Surface Tension (SFT), and Zeta Potential (ZP) in the solution supported the recovery factor results. Finding the optimum concentration and slug size are significant factors in making the oil extraction process more economical.
Ionic liquids as novel surfactants for potential use in enhanced oil recovery
2013
The screening and use of benign chemicals for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) applications is important because of their properties and relationship to the embedded fluids. We investigated a special type of ionic liquids (ILs) called ''Ammoeng" for potential use in surfactant EOR to replace the currently used surfactants that have many disadvantages. The interfacial tension (IFT) between a representative oil sample from Saudi reservoirs and solutions of Ammoeng TM ILs at different concentrations in 10 wt% NaCl aqueous solutions were measured as a function of temperature. It was found that the IFT values decreased with the increase of IL concentration. However, the effect of temperature on the IFT depended on the type of IL. Ammoeng TM 102 gave the lowest IFT values among the screened ILs. The comparison of the results to those resulting from TritonX100, a commercially used surfactant, showed that the IFT values using Ammoeng TM 102 were smaller than the corresponding values when TritonX100 was used at the same conditions. The possibility of having a synergetic effect when using a mixture of Ammoeng TM 102 and Triton X 100 was also investigated. The results showed that the IFT values depended on the total concentration, the surfactant to IL mass ratio, and the temperature.