Avaliação de tecnologia para redução da viscosidade de resíduos pesados de petróleo utilizando laser / Assessing technology for reducing the viscosity of heavy petroleum residues using laser

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2011

RESUMO

The use of infrared radiation produced by a CO2 laser in visbreaking of heavy fractions of petroleum was assessed. The main criterion used to evaluate the technology was to compare the viscosities of atmospheric distillation residues before and after being irradiated under different operating conditions of the laser. A suitable profile for comparison was developed through a large rheological study of the materials by using a parallel plate rheometer. Chemical and thermal characterizations, as well as numerical simulations of the thermal effect of laser on the atmospheric residues were also developed aiming a better evaluation of the process. The atmospheric residua analyzed shown to be composed by hydrocarbons with carbon chains ranging from C20 to C110 and a high degree of aromaticity, corresponding the 5% of its composition to asphaltenic hydrocarbons. The Newtonian behavior was obtained at temperatures of 100 ° C, for the heavier residue, and 90 ° C for the lightest one, showing viscosities of 1200 and 500 cP, at these temperatures, respectively. The irradiations with the laser in automatic mode led to a reduction of these figures by 13%, while in manual mode, the radiation produced the opposite effect due to excessive release of gases. Finally, the simulation with ANSYS CFX 11.0 demonstrated the high sensitivity of the sample temperature when carried out minor modifications to the operating parameters of the laser as well as the small sample volume that attains the cracking temperature during irradiation.

ASSUNTO(S)

petróleo viscosidade laser petroleum viscosity laser

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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