Jitendra Sangwai

Heavy oil reservoirs are one of the largest remaining crude oil reserves in the world. Often, the inherent properties of heavy and extra-heavy oils cause major problems in production and transportation processes. The viscosity of these oils makes their treatment difficult with conventional means. Use of solvents to dissolve the heavy oils has been a traditional method to deal with these problems. Improvement in flow through solvent treatment can be further optimized through the use of nanoparticles. Literature works have suggested that nanoparticles have catalyzing effects which affect the polar species of heavy oils. This study is aimed at examining the effects of metallic nanoparticles in altering the viscous property of heavy fraction. Use of thermal stimulation in association with solvents are explored as a means to achieve viscosity reduction. These applications can be further extended into the areas of flow assurance.

The measurement of the rheological properties of gas hydrate slurries necessitates the high pressure rheometer that can provide a proper mixing inside the pressure cell during hydrate formation from two multiphase fluids, water and gas. However, the hydrate formation is highly challenging in conventional cup and bob geometry due to its plane surface. To overcome this, the present work focuses on the study of high pressure rheology for hydrate slurries formed from water-heptane (C7H16) system using a high pressure cell in Anton-Paar® (MCR-52) rheometer and a modified Couette geometry which enables the measurement of rheological studies of multiphase hydrate system. It was observed that the hydrate slurries exhibit shear thinning behavior. The present study provides an important information about the rheology of methane hydrate slurries formed from multiphase systems for flow assurance applications.