Use of Nano-Metal Particles as Catalyst Under Electromagnetic Heating for Viscosity Reduction of Heavy Oil

<jats:sec> <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>In order for heavy oil and bitumen recovery to be efficient, all components present within the oil must be produced. To achieve a highly efficient production process is it essential that we are able to produce asphaltenic components and limit their precipitation. Solvent and conventional thermal techniques are largely limited in their ability to crack asphaltenic components. Thus, new technologies and catalysts are needed to be more efficiently recover heavy oil.</jats:p> <jats:p>When nano-sized metal particles are present, they catalyze the breaking of carbon-sulfur bonds with in asphaltenic components. The result of this process is an increase in saturates and aromatics, while simultaneously reducing the aphaltene content. This process dramatically lowers the viscosity of heavy oil and bitumen by significantly reducing the average molecular weight. This effect can be dramatically increased by having a strong hydrogen donor present, and can be completely inhibited by the removal of all hydrogen donors. When conducting these types of reactions in-situ, it is very difficult and expensive to introduce strong hydrogen donors. Therefore, it is imperative that hydrogen donors be created within the oil rather than be introduced from an external source.</jats:p> <jats:p>In this paper, we investigated the effects of microwave radiation, using a s 2.45 GHz emitter, on the recovery of heavy oil from a sand pack. Experiments were conducted with and without nano-sized nickle catalyst being present. Heavy oil samples were heated at different power levels until recovery of heavy oil leveled out. In all cases, the nano-nickle catalysts performed better than their microwave oil counterparts. This is due to the increased cracking and vaporization which was demonstrated by Greff and Babadagli (2011) to take place in the presence of nano-size metal catalyst and microwaves.</jats:p> </jats:sec>