Downhole catalytic combustion for hydrogen generation and heavy oil mobility enhancement
OwnerWilliam Pfefferleinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A new concept for enhancing the mobility of crude oils is provided which enables efficient and effective recovery of heavy oils not presently accessible using existing techniques while concurrently yielding upgraded oils from the extracted heavy oils. The heavy oil that remains inaccessible after primary and secondary recovery operations, and the significant amounts of heavy oils that reside at depths below those accessible with conventional steam flooding operations, are made accessible.
Claims17
A method of recovery of oil from an oil-bearing formation comprising:
- a) providing a hot gas phase fuel-rich mixture of fuel, oxidant, and steam downhole, the mixture having a fuel-oxidant equivalence ratio of at least about two;
- b) passing the mixture into contact with a catalyst suitable for auto-thermal reforming;
- c) reacting the mixture to produce a product stream containing hydrogen;
- and
- d) injecting the product stream into the oil-bearing formation.
A method for enhanced oil recovery comprising:
- a) producing a hot product stream comprising steam and hydrogen by downhole fuel-rich combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel;
- b) injecting the hot product stream into an oil-bearing formation at a temperature suitable for hydrotreating of the oil;
- and
- c) producing hydrotreated oil from a production well.
A method for producing upgraded oil from an oil bearing formation comprising:
- a) reacting a fuel and oxygen with a catalyst downhole to produce a heated product stream containing hydrogen and carbon oxides having temperature in excess of 600 F;
- b) injecting the heated product stream into contact with an oil bearing formation;
- c) continuing said injection for a period of time sufficient to heat at least a portion of the formation to a temperature of at least 600 F;
- and
- d) producing upgraded oil from a production well.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.