Phase change materials to address reversion problems in heavy oils

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12110464-B2
Application number	US-202217732380-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2022
Priority date	Apr 28, 2022
Publication date	Oct 8, 2024
Grant date	Oct 8, 2024

Abstract

Reversion problems with heavy oils, such as heavy fuel oils, are mitigated by introducing an effective amount of an additive that contains both a phase change material and a pour point depressant, even synergistically mitigated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to mitigate a reversion problem of a heavy oil, comprising:
introducing into the heavy oil having the reversion problem an effective amount of an additive to mitigate the reversion problem where the additive comprises both:
a phase change material that can absorb, store and liberate latent heat at a nearly constant phase-transition temperature, and
a pour point depressant,
where the additive provides a synergistic effect that mitigates the reversion problem better than the phase change material alone in the same total amount or the pour point depressant alone in the same total amount; and

providing a treated heavy oil.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising subsequently subjecting the treated heavy oil to a phenomenon selected from the group consisting of:
thermal cycling;
mechanical shearing; and
combinations thereof, and
the reversion problem is mitigated.

3. The method of claim 1 where the heavy oil is selected from the group consisting of crude oil, heavy fuel oils, gas oils, bottom resids, and combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 where the effective amount of the additive comprises:
from about 1 ppm to 2,000 ppm of the phase change material; and
from about 10 ppm to about 20,000 ppm of the pour point depressant, based on the heavy oil.

5. The method of claim 1 where:
the phase change material is selected from the group consisting of:
organic phase change materials,
inorganic phase change materials,
eutectic mixtures of at least two-phase change materials and
combinations thereof; and

the pour point depressant is selected from the group consisting of:
ethyl vinyl acetate copolymers,
alpha-olefin maleic anhydrides,
vinyl acetate olefin maleic anhydride copolymers,
polymeric amides and imides,
poly alkyl acrylic polymers, and
combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 where the treated heavy oil has a temperature in the range of from about −10° F. (−23° C.) to about 250° F. (121° C.).

7. A method to mitigate a reversion problem of a heavy oil, comprising:
introducing into the heavy oil having the reversion problem an effective amount of an additive to mitigate the reversion problem where the additive comprises both:
from about 1 ppm to 2,000 ppm of a phase change material, based on the heavy oil, where the phase change material can absorb, store and liberate latent heat at a nearly constant phase-transition temperature, and where the phase change material is selected from the group consisting of:
organic phase change materials,
inorganic phase change materials,
eutectic mixtures of at least two-phase change materials and
combinations thereof, and

from about 10 ppm to about 20,000 ppm of a pour point depressant, based on the heavy oil, where the pour point depressant is selected from the group consisting of:
ethyl vinyl acetate copolymers,
alpha-olefin maleic anhydrides,
vinyl acetate olefin maleic anhydride copolymers,
polymeric amides and imides,
poly alkyl acrylic polymers, and
combinations thereof; and

where the additive provides a synergistic effect that mitigates the reversion problem better than the phase change material alone in the same total amount or the pour point depressant alone in the same total amount;

providing a treated heavy oil; and
subsequently subjecting the treated heavy oil to a phenomenon selected from the group consisting of thermal cycling, mechanical shearing, and combinations thereof,
where the reversion problem is mitigated.

8. The method of claim 7 where the heavy oil is selected from the group consisting of crude oil, heavy fuel oils, gas oils, bottom resids, and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 7 where the treated heavy oil has a temperature in the range of from about −10° F. (−23° C.) to about 250° F. (121° C.).

10. A treated heavy oil, comprising:
heavy oil having a reversion problem; and
an effective amount of an additive to mitigate the reversion problem where the additive comprises both:
a phase change material that can absorb, store and release latent heat at a nearly constant phase-transition temperature, and
a pour point depressant,
where the additive provides a synergistic effect that mitigates the reversion problem better than the phase change material alone in the same total amount or the pour point depressant alone in the same total amount.

11. The treated heavy oil of claim 10 where the heavy oil is selected from the group consisting of crude oil, heavy fuel oils, gas oils, bottom resids, and combinations thereof.

12. The treated heavy oil of claim 10 where the effective amount of the additive comprises:
from about 1 ppm to 2,000 ppm of the phase change material; and
from about 10 ppm to about 20,000 ppm of the pour point depressant, based on the heavy oil.

13. The treated heavy oil of claim 10 where:
the phase change material is selected from the group consisting of:
organic phase change materials,
inorganic phase change materials,
eutectic mixtures of at least two-phase change materials, and
combinations thereof; and

the pour point depressant is selected from the group consisting of:
ethyl vinyl acetate copolymers,
alpha-olefin maleic anhydrides,
vinyl acetate olefin maleic anhydride copolymers,
polymeric amides and imides,
poly alkyl acrylic polymers, and
combinations thereof.

14. The treated heavy oil of claim 10 where the treated heavy oil has a temperature in the range of from about −10° F. (−23° C.) to about 250° F. (121° C.).

Assignees

• Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations Llc

Inventors

• Patel Asha
• Ekoue-Kovi Kekeli A
• Murugesan Sankaran

Classifications

• C10L1/196

  derived from monomers containing a carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bond and a carboxyl group or salts, anhydrides or esters thereof {homo- or copolymers of compounds having one or more unsaturated aliphatic radicals each having one carbon bond to carbon double bond, and at least one being terminated by a carboxyl radical or of salts, anhydrides or esters thereof} · CPC title

• C10L1/2364

  homo- or copolymers derived from unsaturated compounds containing amide and/or imide groups (C10L1/221 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C10L1/146

  Macromolecular compounds according to different macromolecular groups, mixtures thereof · CPC title

• C10L2250/04

  Additive or component is a polymer · CPC title

• C10L10/16

  Pour-point depressants · CPC title