CO2 laser application for acid and sulfur removal of heavy oils and development of characterization methods of thermo-physical properties

Author(s)

Julie Andrea Ballesteros Hernández

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia Química
• Defense date: 2013-03-22

Examining board members

Rubens Maciel Filho; Gilvan Anderson Gadioli Fischer; Christiane de Arruda Rodrigues Ragnini; Viktor Oswaldo Cárdenas Concha; Rodrigo Alvarenga Rezende

• Advisor: Rubens Maciel Filho

Abstract

This project has as its main focus, to study and to propose a new method for removing acids and sulfurs of heavy oil to prevent corrosion problems and the generation of other components of high toxicity and / or for the prevention of future problems related to the process of distillation and furthermore to propose methods for characterization of Brazilian oils from the determination of thermophysical properties and physicochemical. The proposal is the development of procedures for the removal of acids and sulfurs by CO2 laser radiation in oil and the determination of thermophysical properties by differential scanning calorimetry as heat capacity, enthalpy, temperature of appearance and disappearance of paraffins, paraffin content, and physicochemical properties such as density, molar mass, viscosity, among others, which are important in the mathematical modeling of exploration and refining processes of petroleum. This can be done by a set of characterization techniques which lead us to get information necessary for the development of processes. In this context, an experimental design was done considering the use of CO2 laser for a crude oil to evaluate with analyzes of polar components by ESI FT-ICR MS the removal of acids and sulfur from the oil, and significant results were obtained. Furthermore, the crude oils were characterized by their thermophysical properties such as specific heat, enthalpy, heat conductivity and its physicochemical properties such as density, viscosity and molar mass. Moreover molecular distillation residues and cuts were analyzed by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetry (TG), vapor pressure osmometry (VPO), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), polarized light microscopy (PLM), obtaining properties such as the temperature of appearance and disappearance of paraffins, the curve of precipitation of paraffins, the percentage of paraffins, the glass transition temperature, thermal stability, molar mass, structure molecules and percentage of aromatics present in the samples. The results show that there is a decrease in the relative intensity of O2 compounds (carboxylic acids) for all tests with CO2 laser, giving a maximum removal of 41.3% and a decrease in some cases for the compounds sulfur with a maximum removal of 9.1%. The characterizations presented in this work are of great importance not only to the general knowledge of currents and crude oil, but also to the process modeling and to prevent future problems (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/09961-8 - APPLICATION OF CO2 LASER FOR THE REMOVAL OF SULFUR ACIDS OF HEAVY OIL AND DEVELOPMENT OF METHODS OF CHARACTERIZATION OF THERMO-PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• Grantee: Julie Andrea Ballesteros Hernández
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate