Ultrasonic batch processing of ultra heavy oil for viscosity reduction on the industrial scale

Due to the shortage of the fossil fuel and with the increasing demand for it, heavy crude oil and ultra heavy crude oil whose density is less than 10API and 20API respectively are getting more attentions in the world. But their properties of heavier density, higher viscosity, and worse fluidity make it very difficult to produce and transport them. Ultrasonic wave technique is investigated to improve their rheological properties in lab and in the field in this paper. In lab, the viscosity of the emulsion of ultra heavy crude oil, water and viscosity reducer processed by ultrasonic wave has a more than 25% decrease of viscosity reduction and 20% less quantity of active macromolecule viscosity reducer is needed. When the initial temperature in not lower than 40°C, the uniformly-distributed emulsion can form when it is subjected to 10–30s ultrasonic irradiation. The mechanisms of effects of high intensity ultrasonic wave on the viscosity reduction are emphatically investigated. According to the experiments, an ultrasonic batch processing system with 4 ultrasonic horns whose basic frequency is 17 kHz is designed and installed in the Xinjiang oil field in the northwest of China. The pilots show that this system can be used to reduce the viscosity of ultra heavy crude oil for the practical production and transportation on the industrial scale.