Experimental study on the viscosity reduction of heavy oil with nano-catalyst by microwave heating under low reaction temperature

70% global oil reserves are heavy oil. The high viscosity and poor liquidity of heavy oil lead to many difficulties in its development, storage and transportation. In recent years, as a new technology, viscosity reduction with nanotechnology and microwave technology has become a hot spot in heavy oil study. However, because of low selective absorption of microwave, poor dispersion and high cracking reaction temperature of nanoparticles, nanotechnology cannot be widely applied. This project proposes a super heavy oil viscosity reduction method under synergism of carbon nano-catalyst and microwave. In this paper, a new nano-catalyst with low temperature is proposed to reduce viscosity of heavy oil by synergistic microwave action. By using the Jin County's heavy oil sample in Bohai oilfield, the optimum dosage of nanometer catalyst, the temperature of microwave reaction and the reaction time are firstly determined by single factor experiment, and the effect of catalyst type and different heating mode on oil sample viscosity is secondly verified. At last, the changes of the group composition and the structure of the oil samples before and after the experiment are compared and analyzed by means of modern test. The results show that the heavy oil macromolecules can be chemically cracked under low reaction temperature (less than 100 degrees C) by use of the low-temperature new 6# Nano-catalyst assisted by microwave. The recombination fractions are reduced, and small molecular saturation components and aromatic components increased significantly, which will permanently reduce the viscosity of heavy oil, with a viscosity reduction rate up to 99.7%. The results reveal the non thermal effect mechanism and the activation action of microwave on nano-catalyst to promote viscous oil viscosity reduction under low reaction temperature, which would provide theoretical basis and technical support for future application of nano-microwave synergistic technology in heavy oil piping.