TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental Study of Asphaltene Precipitation Behavior During Miscible Carbon Dioxide Injection
AU - Alizadeh, A.
AU - Nakhli, H.
AU - Kharrat, Riyaz
AU - Ghazanfari, M. H.
AU - Aghajani, M.
PY - 2014/4/14
Y1 - 2014/4/14
N2 - Many reservoir and production engineers face asphaltene precipitation as a major problem during miscible carbon dioxide flooding projects. Experimental studies regarding asphaltene precipitation are therefore employed to assist in selecting appropriate facilities and proper operation schemes. During this study, a series of high pressure, high temperature experiments are designed and performed to analyze asphaltene precipitation behavior of an Iranian light reservoir crude at reservoir conditions due to natural production and miscible CO2 gas injection. For both sets of experiments, two different temperature levels (including reservoir temperature) are selected to investigate the role of temperature on asphaltene precipitation as well. Results of natural production experiments indicate that the maximum amount of precipitation occurs at reservoir bubble point pressure, while for each specified pressure asphaltene precipitation increases as the temperature is raised for the whole range of pressures. Carbon dioxide injection experiments, however, have terminated in some remarkable findings: for small CO2 concentrations, CO2 behaves as a hindering agent and lowers the amount of precipitation; on the contrary, for higher fractions (values larger than critical CO2 concentration), the injection of CO2 results in more asphaltene precipitation. An increase in temperature during CO 2 injection results in (1) the increase of asphaltene precipitation, (2) the shift of the critical CO2 concentration to lower values, and (3) the decrease of the rate of asphaltene precipitation with CO2 concentration.
AB - Many reservoir and production engineers face asphaltene precipitation as a major problem during miscible carbon dioxide flooding projects. Experimental studies regarding asphaltene precipitation are therefore employed to assist in selecting appropriate facilities and proper operation schemes. During this study, a series of high pressure, high temperature experiments are designed and performed to analyze asphaltene precipitation behavior of an Iranian light reservoir crude at reservoir conditions due to natural production and miscible CO2 gas injection. For both sets of experiments, two different temperature levels (including reservoir temperature) are selected to investigate the role of temperature on asphaltene precipitation as well. Results of natural production experiments indicate that the maximum amount of precipitation occurs at reservoir bubble point pressure, while for each specified pressure asphaltene precipitation increases as the temperature is raised for the whole range of pressures. Carbon dioxide injection experiments, however, have terminated in some remarkable findings: for small CO2 concentrations, CO2 behaves as a hindering agent and lowers the amount of precipitation; on the contrary, for higher fractions (values larger than critical CO2 concentration), the injection of CO2 results in more asphaltene precipitation. An increase in temperature during CO 2 injection results in (1) the increase of asphaltene precipitation, (2) the shift of the critical CO2 concentration to lower values, and (3) the decrease of the rate of asphaltene precipitation with CO2 concentration.
KW - asphaltene precipitation
KW - carbon dioxide
KW - EOR
KW - miscible injection
KW - temperature effect
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84901402957&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/15567031003614672
DO - 10.1080/15567031003614672
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84901402957
SN - 1556-7036
VL - 36.2014
SP - 1523
EP - 1530
JO - Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization and Environmental Effects
JF - Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization and Environmental Effects
IS - 14
ER -