An Experimental Study Investigating the Impact of Miscible and Immiscible Nitrogen Injection on Asphaltene Instability in Nano Shale Pore Structure

Abstract

Miscible gas injection has become the most used enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method in the oil and gas industry. The deposition and precipitation of aspahltene during the gas injection process is one of the problems during the oil production process. The asphaltene can deposit and plug the pores, which reduces the permeability in a reservoir; thus, decreasing the oil recovery and increasing the production costs. This research investigates the nitrogen (N2) miscible and immiscible pressure injections on asphaltene instability in shale pore structures . First, a slim-tube was used to determine the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) of N2to ensure that the effect of both miscible and immiscible gas injection was achievable. Second, filtration experiments were conducted using a specially designed filtration apparatus to investigate the effect of nano pore sizes on asphaltene deposition. Heterogeneous distribution of the filter paper membranes was used in all experiments. The factors studied include miscible/immiscible N2injection and pore size distribution. Visualization tests were conducted to highlight the asphaltene precipitation process over time. The results showed that increasing the pressure increased the asphaltene weight percentage. The miscible N2injection pressure had a significant effect on asphaltene instability. However, the immiscible N2injection pressure had a lower effect on the asphaltene deposition, which resulted in less asphaltene weight percentage. For both miscible/immiscible N2injection pressures, the asphaltene weight percentage increased as the pore size of the filter membranes decreased. Visualization tests showed that after one hour the asphaltene clusters were clearly noticed and suspended in the solvent of heptane, and the asphaltene was fully deposited after 12 hours. Microscopy imaging of filter membranes indicated significant pore plugging from asphaltene, especially for smaller pore sizes.