Scientific and Technical Substantiation of Reducing Oil Viscosity
G.Zh. Moldabayeva, R. Suleimenova, M.F. Turdiyev, Zh.B. Shayakhmetova, A.S. Karimova
Abstract
Ultrasonic technology is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly non-traditional method of enhancing oil recovery, which is of great interest to researchers and field production engineers. The integration of ultrasound with surfactants has been proven to be effective in increasing oil recovery by reducing salt adsorption in the fluid. Many studies focused on the water-oil phase behavior to determine whether ultrasound can actually reduce oil viscosity (fluidity). However, the phase behavior alone cannot answer this question. Therefore, the present study investigated the role of reducing oil viscosity with the use of ultrasound at different intense frequencies. For this purpose, ultrasonic processing of an unconsolidated model with sand placed in an ultrasonic bath was applied. As a result of a laboratory experiment, the viscosity during ultrasonic processing showed a significant decrease to 30% from the initial value of 138 MPa*s. The change effect was discovered in the physical properties of the studied oil-water compositions in electromechanical field variables of different nature. Based on the results of experimental work, a method was developed and tested for reducing the viscosity of high-paraffin oils. However, in the course of research, several manifestation features of these effects were revealed, suggesting their applicability in the processes of synthesis and destruction of heavy hydrocarbons. In this regard, the relevance of the study consists in the dependence of changes in oil viscosity on the type and parameters of electrophysical effects. The authors conducted a laboratory experiment to reduce viscosity, built a hydrodynamic model to determine its effectiveness for processing a single well, and built a model using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The technology of stimulating oil wells with high-power ultrasound has been applied in various onshore and offshore fields. The developer of this technology takes good care of their customers and maintains confidentiality in relation to linking their performance indicators to a specific field. However, extensive ultrasonic tests have been provided showing that oil production rises from 38% to 380% based on average barrel/day flow rates.