Synthesis and Performance Evaluation of a Nanocomposite Pour-Point Depressant and Viscosity Reducer for High-Pour-Point Heavy Oil
Jincheng Mao, Jincheng Mao, Kang Zhi, Xiaojiang Yang, Chong Lin, Lijun Zheng, Ming J. Zuo, Jinhua Mao, Jinhua Mao, Sikai Dai, Jinxing Xue, Dong Ouyang
Abstract
Exploring ways to efficiently and inexpensively exploit and transport high-viscosity and high-pour-point crude oil is very important, and use of silica nanoparticles (nano-SiO2) to reduce the pour point and viscosity of this oil is promising. For this purpose, we modified nano-SiO2 in two ways. First, we used the coupling agent KH570 to replace hydroxyl groups in nano-SiO2 with organic groups. Next, we used four monomers (octadecyl methacrylate, styrene, maleic anhydride, and acrylamide) for graft copolymerization of the modified nano-SiO2 to obtain a nano-SiO2 composite. This method of modifying the nano-SiO2 surface reduces the agglomeration tendency of unmodified nano-SiO2 and disperses the composite material in the organic solvent. A synthetic nanocomposite material could reduce the viscosity of heavy oil with different viscosities and pour points by more than 60%. It could also reduce the pour points of heavy oil by more than 10 °C, thus showing superiority over the traditional ethylene–vinyl acetate flow modifier.