Abstract
The hot exhaust gas generated by a downhole combustion heater directly heats the formation, which can avoid the heat loss caused by the injection of high-temperature fluid on the ground. However, if the temperature of the exhaust gas is too high, it may lead to the carbonization of organic matter in the formation, which is not conducive to oil production. This paper proposes the use of low-temperature catalytic combustion of a mixture of methane and air to produce a suitable exhaust gas temperature. The simulation studies the influence of different parameters on the catalytic combustion characteristics of methane and the influence of downhole high-pressure conditions. The results show that under high-pressure conditions, using a smaller concentration of methane (4%) for catalytic combustion can obtain a higher conversion efficiency (88.75%), and the exhaust temperature is 1097 K. It is found that the high-pressure conditions in the well can promote the catalytic combustion process of the heater, which proves the feasibility of the downhole combustion heater for in situ heating of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs.
Highlights
Key Lab of Ministry of Natural Resources for Drilling and Exploitation Technology in Complex Conditions, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China
Introduction with regard to jurisdictional claims in Unconventional oil and gas resources refer to oil and gas resources that are continuously distributed over a large area
Exploration and development practices and global new oil and gas resource evaluation have confirmed that unconventional oil and gas resources are abundant
Summary
The principle of the downhole catalytic combustion heater is shown in Figure 2, which mainly includes five parts: the gas injection mechanism, ignition mechanism, catalytic combustion mechanism, remote control components, and temperature monitoring components. The principle of the downhole catalytic combustion heater is shown, which mainly includes five parts: the gas injection mechanism, ignition mechanism, catalytic combustion mechanism, remote control components, and temperature monitoring components. It includes the following steps: (a) A mixture of methane and air is injected into the heater (Figure 3a). The external thermal insulation layer ensures the temperature of the catalyst, and the mixed gas is introduced again At this time, methane is catalytically burned under the action of the high-temperature catalyst, and the generated high-temperature exhaust gas is injected into the formation (Figure 3c).
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