The Effect of Carbonyl and Hydroxyl Compounds Addition on CO₂ Injection through Hydrocarbon Extraction Processes

Abstract

CO2 miscible flooding occurs when injection pressure is higher than the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) which can exceed the fracture pressure. Co-solvents are expected to reduce the MMP by interacting with various hydrocarbons that depend on the polarity and intermolecular forces of solvent and oil. However, there are limited studies that have investigated co-solvent performance in CO2 injection through an extraction process based on oil compositional analysis. This paper is aimed at studying the effects of carbonyl and hydroxyl compounds on oil extraction and also the mutual interactions of CO2-oil-carbonyl and -hydroxyl. The experiment is conducted by using VIPS (viscosity, interfacial tension, pressure-volume, and swelling) and gas chromatography (GC) apparatuses. The compositional results from GC are utilized to analyze the performance of co-solvents, which are further classified based on the carbon number and molecular structure of oil. Acetone is a non-associated polar compound which reacts easily with and assists CO2 to extract polar-aromatic heavy and slightly polar components such as alkenes and straight-chain alkanes, due to high polarizability and low cohesive forces. Ethanol is a self-associated polar compound which has the capability of extracting high-boiling fractions and slightly polar-aromatic components. Moreover, both co-solvents also assist CO2 to extract non-polar components because they have non-polar end in the alkyl group.

Keywords

• CO₂
• co-solvent
• polarity
• extraction
• acetone
• ethanol