Clay concentration and heating rate effect on crude oil combustion by thermogravimetry

In this research, the effect of heating rate and different clay concentrations on heavy oil combustion was investigated by thermogravimetry (TG–DTG). In TG–DTG experiments, two main distinct reaction regions were identified in all of the crude oil + limestone mixtures; known as low temperature oxidation (LTO) and high temperature oxidation (HTO) respectively. It was observed that addition of clay to porous matrix (limestone + heavy oil) significantly affected the thermal characteristics and kinetics of crude oil. It was also observed that heating rate affected the reaction region intervals, peak and burn-out temperatures. Kinetic analysis of the samples was determined and it was observed that activation energies generated for the high temperature oxidation region for crude oil and crude oil/clay mixtures are in the range of 48.5–151 kJmol− 1 at three different heating rates

► Three reactions were observed in crude oil combustion in the presence of clay.
► Clay reduced the activation energy of the crude oil samples.
► Clay is one of the potential catalysts for crude oil combustion.