(75c) Supported Nickel and Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Catalytic Asphaltene Decomposition Under an Air/Vapor Atmosphere for Enhanced Oil Recovery (Invited)

The production of heavy and extra-heavy crude oils has increased recently due to the current energy demand and the depletion of conventional resources. However, these type of crude oils presents different problems related to its production, transporting and refining. Accordingly, several in-situ techniques have been developed for enhancing HO and EHO recovery and improve their properties. In this sense, nanoparticles have proven to work well in improving the physical and chemical properties of this type of oils, such as viscosity, API gravity, and content to heavy components such as asphaltenes.

This work aims to synthesize, characterize and evaluate for the first time supported nickel and iron oxide nanoparticles for catalytic asphaltene decomposition under an air/vapor atmosphere. Silica nanoparticles of 11 nm in size were synthesized by the sol-gel method and were characterized by size, SEM-EDX, surface area, FTIR, point of zero charge and thermogravimetric analyses (TGA). Metal oxide nanoparticles were synthesized over Silica surface following the incipient wetness technique using commercial reagents and solutions from laterite leaching. The extraction of Nickel-Iron consisted of a laterite leaching process by the use of solutions of sulfuric acid at various concentrations and the use of temperature. Which allowed as a final product a solution with these two components that were quantified using absorption spectrometry atomic, which yielded a majority of iron and its respective proportion in nickel according to the acid used. The particle size of nickel oxide and Iron oxide nanoparticles was estimated in 2 and 6 nm with 5.0 and 32.6% of dispersion over the support surface. Batch adsorption experiments performed for obtaining asphaltene adsorption isotherms for the support and the functionalized nanoparticles. It was observed that functionalized nanoparticles had higher adsorption capacity than the support. Further, TGA-FTIR experiments were performed for the asphaltenes in the absence and presence of the different nanoparticles evaluated.

A fixed asphaltene loading of 0.2 m²/g was employed. Experiments conducted for an air flow of 100 mL/min up to 800°C. H₂O_(g) wasintroduced to the system at a flow rate of 6.3 mL/min using a saturator filled with distilled water. Results demonstrated the enhancing of asphaltenes decomposition by the action of the nanoparticles due to the reduction in the decomposition temperature of the asphaltenes up to 200°C in comparison with the system in the absence of nanoparticles. This work opens a wider landscape about the use of functionalized nanoparticles for improving the efficiency thermal enhanced oil recovery processes in the presence of air and vapor.