Heavy Crude Oil Processing to Improve Pipe Line Transportation Properties

Transporting heavy crude oils through pipeline or by other transportation means is challenging and often requires the petroleum industry to resort to rail transport for inland sources, adding large volumes of diluent, or adding very high energy input, not to mention the extra handling and danger of spillage.

Objective

Describe a novel approach to economically transporting heavy crude oil by pipeline over long distances by reducing the viscosity of heavy crude oils using low-concentration chemical addition and integral mechanical treatment. The treated heavy crude oils do not require heating over 40°C, adding large volumes of diluent, or adding large volumes of chemicals to promote transportation through pipeline.

Methods

‘EZ Flow’ combines hydrodynamic cavitation processing of the heavy crude oil with addition of proprietary, low concentration chemical formulations (< 2% by volume) to promote the reduction of the heavy crude oil’s viscosity. First, over thirty different chemical formulations were rapidly screened at the bench-scale with sonication and mixing as the mechanical mixing method. Second, the most promising chemical formulations identified at the bench-scale were scaled up to a small, 15-gallon pilot plant scale hydrodynamic cavitation system to process heavy crude oil and chemical formulation and to collect samples during and after processing for analyses.

Results

Chemical formulations 30, 31, and 32, treated using the 15-gallon hydrodynamic cavitation pilot scale system, yielded viscosity reduction of Belridge heavy crude oil (API° 11) by up to 60%.

Conclusion

‘EZ Flow’ reduced a Belridge heavy crude oil’s viscosity up to 60%, making this technology a candidate for converting this type of heavy crude oil into a flowable material suitable for transport through existing pipelines at moderate temperatures. If commercialization continues as planned, the technology could result in significant decreases in transportation costs and potentially limit environmental impact for oil producers. There is also a high probability that this technology could be used for transporting other unconventional oils. Also, the treated heavy crude oil could be stored for extended periods of time (months) without losing its reduction in viscosity. EZ Flow technology is filed with the U.S. Patent Office in 2021, U.S. Patent Application Serial No.: 17/452,458.