Non-isothermal matrix blocks heating under constant heat flux

Nanocatalytic in-situ upgrading is a novel enhanced oil recovery process that consists of injecting ultra-dispersed nanocatalyst into a preheated oil reservoir. Nanocatalyst propagates into the porous medium and promotes exothermic reactions that provide additional heating to the reservoir. The objective of this work is to capture the main thermal processes involved in nanocatalytic in-situ upgrading by presenting a simple analytical model. This model considers the transient temperature distribution within a matrix block heated by a constant temperature and heat flux. To achieve this goal, the formulation of various stages including heating up, hydroprocessing heating, and post-hydroprocessing heating were carried out based on energy balance equation, various boundary conditions and using a semi-analytical method known as Heat Integral Method (HIM) to solve the equation. This work provides simple analytical solutions for modeling the nanocatalytic in-situ process. Hence, it can be used for scale-up of heavy oil recovery from large matrix blocks of naturally-fractured-carbonate reservoirs.

Keywords: in-situ upgrading, Heat Integral Method (HIM), enhanced oil recovery, heavy oil, naturally-fractured-carbonate reservoirs.