Research on the Dynamic Granulation Viscosity Reduction Technology for Venezuela' S Ultra Heavy Oil

Abstract Based on the physico-chemical property of Venezuela ultra heavy oil, active macromolecule viscosity reducer (CVR) was designed and prepared. Viscosity reduction system of Venezuela ultra heavy oil was prepared using active macromolecule viscosity reducer assisted by ultrasonic. The laboratory experimental results indicated that the active macromolecule viscosity reducer has good viscosity reducing ability on the Venezuela ultra heavy oil. Under the conditions of viscosity reducer (0.3%), oil-water volume ratio (10:3), the viscosity reduction system displays good dispersion and the initial apparent viscosity keeps less than 200 mPa·s. Viscosity reduction system displayed well stability, the apparent viscosity of oil/water dispersion is still less than 500 mPa·s after 28 days static placed. Ultrasonic has a significant effect on the viscosity reduction system, which can effectively reduce the mixing time 50% and the viscosity reducer usage about 30%. The ultrasonic attenuation method was able to characterize the particle size and particle size distributions of Venezuela heavy oil/water dispersion. The particle size distribution of the oil/water dispersion is uniform and the average particle size is about 100μm. Whereby 80% particle size of the system is between 60μm~178μm and only less than 10% of the particle size is more than 180μm or less than 55μm. Moreover, the measurement tendencies of ultrasonic attenuation method are consistent with the changing trend of apparent viscosity.