The oxidation of heavy oil to enhance oil recovery: The numerical model and the criteria to describe the low and high temperature oxidation

• A model to describe the temperature distribution of heavy oil oxidation.
• The high- and low-temperature oxidation processes.
• KP and HP factors are proposed to describe the oxidation reaction strength.

The in situ oxidation of heavy oil brings exothermic reaction between the hydrocarbon and the oxygen, which renders advantages in high efficiency in heat utilization and displacement for oil recovery. The simulation of oxidation is very convenient to investigate the influence of operation parameters and reflect the dynamic response. In this contribution, a mathematical model to simulate the temperature distribution during the oxidation of heavy oil with the injection wells and the production wells arranged in the hexagonal pattern was developed. The effects of convection, diffusion, oxidation reaction, and coking were considered. The temperature distributions in the high- and low-temperature oxidation processes were simulated. The results exhibited that the modeling domain can be heated by both processes. The significant change in the kinetic parameters of oxidation and coking with temperature induced the different oxidation behaviors between the high- and low-temperature oxidation processes. Two dimensionless parameters, KP and HP factor, were proposed based on the simulation results as the criteria to determine the strength of the oxidation reactions in the enhanced oil recovery process.

A mathematical model to describe the temperature distribution during the oxidation of heavy oil. Both KP and HP factors are proposed as the criteria to determine the strength of the oxidation reactions.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide