Studies On Emulsified Viscosity-reducing Technique Of Heavy Crude Oil

This paper studies viscosity-reducing techniques that are used currently, analyzes and compares them to conclude that the chemical viscosity-reducing technique is one of the most potential and promising viscosity-reducing methods. The paper introduces state of the art, operating method and classifying of the chemical viscosity-reducing technique. Besides, it introduces two kinds of main chemical viscosity-reducing agents in emphases ---oil-soluble and water-soluble viscosity reducing agents and introduces the development, viscosity reducing mechanism, assessment method, disfigurement and the developing direction of them. The water-soluble viscosity reducing agent is studied emphatically in the laboratory. Through comparing the compatibleness, emulsifying efficiency, viscosity reducing efficiency and the effect of the dehydration, three water-soluble viscosity reducing agents are chosen from ten. The water superficial tension is measured at different viscosity reducing agent concentration and the results reveal that the water superficial tension can be correlated with the stability of the emulsion. The effect of water content, agent concentration and temperature on viscosity reducing efficiency is studied in the laboratory also. As water content increases, the viscosity of emulsion increases firstly and then descends. When the water content increases to some degree, the viscosity of emulsion keeps a fixed value. As the concentration of viscosity reducing agent increases, the viscosity of emulsion descends first and it changes scarcely after a certain concentration. The viscosity of emulsion descends as the temperature increases. The higher the temperature, the lower the viscosity, but the worse the stability is.