Thermal Characteristics and Combustion Kinetics Analysis of Heavy Crude Oil Catalyzed by Metallic Additives

This work reports the investigation of the catalytic effect of metallic additives on heavy oil oxidation during the air injection process through thermogravimetric testing. The results indicate that the crude oil and oil mixed with metallic additives, combusted in an air atmosphere, exhibit three different types of reactions defined as low-temperature oxidation (LTO), fuel deposition (FD), and high-temperature oxidation (HTO). Because of differences in individual catalytic activity and specific surface area effects, metallic additives exhibit varied catalytic effects on heavy oil oxidation. Meanwhile, the difference of activation energy reduction between LTO and HTO is analyzed in depth to present new insights into the catalytic effect of metallic additives on asphaltene and mechanistic understanding in terms of microscopic molecular structure. Through the combined analysis of thermal behavior and combustion kinetics, CuCl2 is found to be an excellent catalyst for upgrading the performance of an air injection project through positively influencing the oxidation reactions of Tahe heavy crude oil.