The Effect of Carbonyl and Hydroxyl Compounds Addition on CO₂ Injection through Hydrocarbon Extraction Processes

• Main Authors: Asep Kurnia Permadi, Egi Adrian Pratama, Andri Luthfi Lukman Hakim, Alfanda Kurnia Widi, Doddy Abdassah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-12-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: CO₂; co-solvent; polarity; extraction; acetone; ethanol
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/1/159

CO₂ miscible flooding occurs when injection pressure is higher than the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) which can exceed the fracture pressure. Co-solvents are expected to reduce the MMP by interacting with various hydrocarbons that depend on the polarity and intermolecular forces of solvent and oil. However, there are limited studies that have investigated co-solvent performance in CO₂ injection through an extraction process based on oil compositional analysis. This paper is aimed at studying the effects of carbonyl and hydroxyl compounds on oil extraction and also the mutual interactions of CO₂-oil-carbonyl and -hydroxyl. The experiment is conducted by using VIPS (viscosity, interfacial tension, pressure-volume, and swelling) and gas chromatography (GC) apparatuses. The compositional results from GC are utilized to analyze the performance of co-solvents, which are further classified based on the carbon number and molecular structure of oil. Acetone is a non-associated polar compound which reacts easily with and assists CO₂ to extract heavy, polar aromatic, and slightly polar components such as alkenes and straight-chain alkanes, due to high polarizability and low cohesive forces. Ethanol is a self-associated polar compound which has the capability of extracting high-boiling fractions and slightly polar aromatic components. Moreover, both co-solvents also assist CO₂ to extract non-polar components because they have non-polar end in the alkyl group.