INVESTIGATION OF PRODUCTIVITY OF HEAVY OIL CARBONATES AND OIL SHALES USING ELECTRICAL HEATING METHODS

Abstract

Unconventional oil sources are the alternative sources and they become attractive because of the politic instability of oil-producing countries and the energy increasing demand. In this study, the recovery characteristics of oil shales and heavy oil samples taken from Turkey were investigated. Microwave heating was used as the recovery process and four different oil shales and three different heavy oil samples were exposed to microwave irradiation using a conventional microwave oven. The system temperatures were recorded continuously during the process. At the end of each experiment, oil production and viscosities of produced oil were measured. An analytical model developed by coupling heat equation with the electromagnetic dissipated power per unit of volume based on Maxwell's equation successfully models the experiments for temperatures less than the pyrolysis temperature and a commercial reservoir simulator (CMGs STARS) was used to ascertain if these experiments could be modeled accurately. Power adsorption coefficient that changes material to material and directly related with the dielectric properties of that material was determined by matching the experimental data. It was concluded that the developed analytical model can be used to predict ultimate temperature that can be reached for a typical microwave field application if the wettability and other petrophysical parameters are known.

Berna's recent work on "Oil Recovery from Shales" (Hascakir, B., Babadagli, T. and Akin, S.: Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Oil Recovery from Oil Shales by Electrical Heating, Energy and Fuels, vol. 22, no. 6, Sept. 5, 2008, 3976-3985.) received remarkable attention in the media. Here are some of them:

1. Biology online: New hope for tapping vast domestic reserves of oil shale
2. Green Car Congress: Researchers Develop Process That Could Result in Higher Yield from Oil Shale).
3. Bio-Medicine: ACS PressPac
4. Science Daily: Proposed Extraction Process May Have Economic, Environmental Benefits
5. e! Science News: Proposed Extraction Process May Have Economic, Environmental Benefits
6. Chi vó non pó: Novas esperanças para a exploração de vastas reservas domésticas de xisto betuminoso
7. Welt der Physik: Mit Eisenpartikeln wollen Forscher den Schichtgesteinen leichter die nutzbaren Ölkomponenten entreißen – gigantische Reserven locken
8. PHYSORG.com: New hope for tapping vast domestic reserves of oil shale

Related Publications

1. Hasçakır, B., Babadagli, T., Akın, S, Experimental and Numerical Simulation of Oil Recovery from Oil Shales by Electrical Heating Energy and Fuels, vol. 22, no. 6, Sept. 5, 2008, 3976-3985.
2. Hasçakır, B., Acar C., Akın, S, Microwave Assisted Heavy Oil Production: An Experimental Approach Energy & Fuels, 23, 6033-6039, 2009.
3. Hasçakır, B., Babadagli, T., Akın, S, Field Scale Analysis of Heavy-Oil Recovery by Electrical Heating SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, Vol 13 (1), 131- 142, 2010.
4. Hasçakır, B., Babadagli, T., Akın, S, Experimental and Numerical Modeling of Heavy-Oil Recovery by Electrical Heating SPE 117669, 2008 SPE International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 20–23 October 2008.
5. Hasçakır, B., Acar, Ç., Demiral, B., Akın, S., Microwave Assisted Gravity Drainage of Heavy Oils IPTC 12536, International Petroleum Technology Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 3–5 December 2008.
6. Hasçakır, B. ve Akın, S.: Effect of Metallic Additives on Upgrading Heavy Oil with Microwave Heating The first World Heavy Oil Conference and Exhibition (WHOC) November 12 – 15, 2006 in Beijing, China.
7. Acar, Ç., Hasçakır, B., Demiral, B., Akın, S., Karaca, H., Kartal, Ö. E.: Microwave Heating of Heavy Oil Reservoirs: Effect of Wettability in 150 Years of the Romanian Petroleum Industry: Tradition and Challenges, 14-17 October 2007, Bucharest, Romania.