Aplicação de ondas ultrassônicas na prevenção da precipitação de asfaltenos na produção de petróleo

Abstract

The petroleum industry is constantly seeking to increase their productivity and lower their production costs. These opposing struggles aim to a greater profitability, so the challenge continues to promote a substantial improvement in oil recovery, since the RCO - Recovery of Crude Oil - from the oil wells is less than 40%. In order to carry out a better training in the recovery of petroleum, in recent years, chemical methods and some physical methods such as hydrofracturing, ultrasonic wave treatment and electromagnetic treatment, are still the most used. This project introduces the use of ultrasonic tools with the objective of improving productivity and allowing the well to have a quantitative improvement in its useful life and at a lower cost. However, for the project to be carried out, it was necessary to investigate by optical microscopy the effect of flocculant hexane and n-heptane on asphaltene precipitation in three oil samples in order to observe the formation of precipitates. and disassociate them from the solution. About the experimental results, was possible to see that the asphaltenes precipitation rate was reduced by more than half, after a 9-minute of radiation exposure, associated with an amplitude of 85% and an intermittent cycle of 80%, approximately, of the ultrasonic device used. This technique aims to increase the flow rates of oil and natural gas production and can be used in oil fields to interrupt or disintegrate the formation of bituminous hydrocarbons in the pipe walls or in the pores of the produced oil wells.