IN-SITU COMBUSTION

Displacement process in which an oxygen-containing

gas is injected to react with oil and create a hightemperature combustion front.
The front propagates through reservoir.
Injected gas is mostly air (rarely 100% oxygen)
Fuel consumed by the combustion front is the residue
after cracking, coking and steam distillation that occur
ahead of the front.
Enough fuel should be produced to sustain the
combustion front.
Ignition: Through electrical or gas igniters or
spontaneous.
1
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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After U.S. DOE

2
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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SCREENING CRITERIA

After Taber et al., SPE Res. Eng. Aug. 1997

3
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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STEAMFLOODING

After Taber et al., SPE Res. Eng. Aug. 1997

4
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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IN-SITU COMBUSTION

After Taber et al., SPE Res. Eng. Aug. 1997

Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

5
Short Course - EOR

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LABORATORY
Conducted using oxidation cells and combustion tubes of different sizes
OXIDATION CELLS: Used to obtain information about the reactivity of different oils
and mechanism of the reactions.
Air is injected continuously into a core sample saturated with oil and heated to 940 F.
Recorded:
Temperature in the core (through thermocouples)
Oxygen consumed
Effluent gas (measured and analyzed)

After Carcoana, Applied Enhanced Oil Recovery, , Prentice Hill

Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

6
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LABORATORY

COMBUSTION TUBES: High pressure jacket (1000-2000 psi) 3-7 ft long, 6-10 in
diameter.

After Carcoana, Applied Enhanced Oil Recovery, , Prentice Hill

Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

7
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PROCESS AND QUALITATIVE DESCRIPTION

Zone 1: Combustion front. Oxygen is consumed
in burning
The coke deposited on rock. Highest T 6001200 F
Zone 2: Left behind the combustion front. Hot
and clean sands that heats the injected air
Zone 3: Vaporization zone. Lighter HC and Swi
are vaporized and
The heavier components thermally cracked
leaving coke deposited
Zone 4: Condensation zone. Steam HC gases
condense in the cooler zone.
Large amount of heat is released. Oil
displacement is increased by lower
viscosity and higher mobility, and miscibility.

After Carcoana, Applied Enhanced Oil Recovery, , Prentice Hill

Zone 5: Zone of water saturation is higher than

Swi (water bank) which pushes oil.
8
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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WET COMBUSTION (COCAW: Combination of forward combustion and waterflood)

Transfers accumulated thermal energy

forward from the combustion zone by
water injected with its high heat capacity
and its latent heat of vaporization.
Air and water injected concurrently or
alternately.
Water flashed into superheated steam.
Sweep efficiency and heated area
increases.
Problematic in low permeability and high
clay zones.

After Carcoana, Applied Enhanced Oil Recovery, , Prentice Hill

9
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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REVERSE COMBUSTION

When oil is too viscous but reservoir has

good air permeability.
Combustion front moves counter to the air
flow.
After ignition, the well is put into
production and another well is used for
injection.
The front moves in the same way in which
cigar is consumed.

After Carcoana, Applied Enhanced Oil Recovery, , Prentice Hill

10
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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IN-SITU COMBUSTION
Small portion of the oil in-place is burned generating heat that
Reduces the viscosity
Increases sweep efficiency
Reduces oil saturation
Vaporizes some of the liquids in the formation generating steam and hot gases
Condenses the light components of the vaporized oil to generate miscibility.
Continuous injection of air develops efficient pressure maintenance and gas drive.

Patented in 1923 and field testes in 1930s. Negative results! Started again in 1950s

11
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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Forward combustion
Dry
Wet (simultaneous or alternate-slug water
injection with the gas)

Reverse combustion

12
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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Dry Combustion
Occurs when Oxygen reacts with the
coke in pores
Ignition is through electrical or gas
igniters (or spontaneous)
Frontal advance of T and S in thin
reservoirs.
Narrow combustion zone forms where T
is very high
Injected air is preheated o combustion T
(650-1200 F)
Products of combustion: water, CO2, CO
ahead of front moving at 0.125-1 ft/day
Hot combustion gases strip light ends of
oil flowing ahead of the front
HC stripped and water vapor condense to
form a small steam plateau of
hot water and light HC banks
After Moss and White, JPT, Sept. 1964

13
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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Dry Combustion
Oil saturation that remains after steam
stripping is subjected to thermal cracking
leaving residual deposit on the sand
grains that is rich in carbon.
This residue is the fuel for the process
(not more that 5-6% is consumed)
HC or other compounds (SO2, CO, CH4,
H2) join combustion gases.
Fuels must be consumed for the
combustion front to advance.
The rate of frontal advance is controlled
by fuel availability and the rate of O2
delivered.

After Moss and White, JPT, Sept. 1964

14
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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Fuel Availability
Amount of fuel laid down by the advancing
combustion front.
Units
lbm fuel (HC)/100 lbm rock
lbm fuel (HC)/cu ft rock (COMMON)
lbm carbon/100 cu ft rock

Combustion regimes
When combustion T reaches 650 F:
combustion reaction is high T oxidation
(HTO) products CO2, CO, water

Fuel availability through analysis of laboratory

combustion experiments: Material balance on the
effluent gas collected during a combustion tube
experiment. Injected and produced (N, O, CO2, CO,
H2O) gas rates and compositions are measured.
All H reacts with O to produce water, all C is
consumed and converted to CO2 and CO.

At T less than 650 F: low T oxidation

(LTO) products: water oxygenated HCs
15
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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Determination of Fuel Availability from Combustion Tube Experiments

First step is analysis of the stoichiometry of the combustion reaction
Composition of the fuel is unknown: CH F
High T combustion of CH F ( FHC is the atomic ratio of H/C in the fuel)
HC

HC

CH FHC nO2 O2 nCO2 CO2 nCO CO ( FHC / 2) H 2O

nO2 : Moles of oxygen reacting
nCO2 : Moles of CO2 in the combustion gases
nCO : Moles of CO in the combustion gases
molesCO2 produced nCO2

molesCOproduced
nCO
The value of m is computed from the produced gas analysis
m

Mole balance on carbon

nCO (m 1) 1

nCO 2 m /(m 1)

VCO2
VCO

nCO2 nCO 1
nCO 1 /(m 1)

nO2 2m 1 /(2m 2) ( FHC / 4)

16
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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Determination of Fuel Availability from Combustion Tube Experiments

2m 1 FHC
m
CH FHC
O2
CO2 1 /(m 1)CO ( FHC / 2) H 2O
m 1
2m 2 4

FHC 4 yiO2 / yiN 2 yiO2 / yiN 2 1 2 y pCO yiCO2 yiCO

If it is pure oxygen

If it is air

FHC
FHC

4(1 y pO2 0.5 y pCO y pCO2 )

y pCO2 y pCO

106.3 2CO 5.06(CO2 CO O2 )

CO2 CO

yi : Average mole fraction of any gas in the injected gas

y p : Average mole fraction of any gas in the produced gas
CO2 : mole % CO2 in the produced gas
CO: mole % CO2 in the produced gas
O2: mole % O2 in the produced gas

17
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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Determination of Fuel Availability from Combustion Tube Experiments

Fuel availability from the combustion tube mE w f / Vb
w : mass of C and H consumed when V (in cu ft) of reservoir y pCO
was burned

Vb ( x2 x1 ) A

Vb v f (t 2 t1 ) A

x1 and x2 are the locations of the combustion tube at times t1 and t2

A: cross sectional area of the tube
vf : average velocity of the combustion front (to be determined from the
plot of the location of the peak T in the tube and time.
The fuel consumed is the sum of the mass of C and H consumed.

w f (12 FHC )( y pCO2 y pCO )n p

w f (12 FHC )(m 1) y pCO n p

18
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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EXAMPLE:
Fuel availability from the combustion tube run:
Tube diameter = 4 in
Tube length =6 ft
Porosity = 35%
During the combustion run 190 scf (surface cond.) gas was produced
Combustion front velocity was constant throughout the experiment.
DETERMINE the fuel availability as lbm/cu ft rock, lbm fuel /100 lbm rock,
and lbm fuel/acre-ft reservoir burned.
Injected air, vol%
Rock density = 2.65 g/cc
N2
79
O2

SOLUTION: H/C ratio

FHC

Produced gas , vol %

106.3 2CO 5.06(CO2 CO O2 ) 106.3 2(3.0) 5.06(11.7 3.0 1.1)

2.2 N2
CO2 CO
11.7 3.0
O2

VCO2
VCO

11.7 / 3.0 3.9

w f (12 FHC )(m 1) y pCO n p

w f (12 FHC )( y pCO2 y pCO )n p

Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

21

1.1

CO2

11.7

CO

3.0

Vb v f (t 2 t1 ) A
Short Course - EOR

84.2

19
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EXAMPLE:
The weight of fuel consumed

w f (12 FHC )(m 1) y pCO n p (12 2.2)(3.9 1)(0.03)(0.5013) 1.046lbmfuel

n p 190scf /(379scf / lbmmol ) 0.5013lbm mol

(the molar volume at 60 F and 14.7 psi is 379

To express fuel consumption in terms of the volume of reservoir rock burned:
1. Assume that the entire sandpack was burned while producing 190 scf gas:
Vb d c2 L / 4 0.524 ft 3

mE w f / Vb 1.046lbm / 0.524 ft 3 2lbm / ft 3

2. Fuel availability in other units:

mR r (1 )VB (2.65)(62.4)(1 0.35)(0.524) 56.28lbm

mE (2.00lbm fuel )(56.28lbm rock ) 1.86lbm fuel / 100lbm rock

mE (2.00lbm fuel )(43,560cuft ) /(cuft rock )(acre ft ) 86,871lbm fuel / acre ft reservoir.burned

From Table

Oxygen utilization efficiency:

EO2 1 (0.79 / 0.21)( y pO2 / y pN 2 ) 1 (0.79 / 0.21)(0.011 / 0.842) 0.955

Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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LTO Low Temperature Oxidation

650-1100 F combustion front T Fully developed combustion
High heat loss and low air flux combustion T decreases
Fraction of injected oxygen being consumed in the LTO for air injection

%O2

100( FHC FHCTRUE )(%CO2 %CO )

4(0.266% N 2 %O2 )

21
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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AIR REQUIREMENT:
The combustion front can advance only by consuming fuels
Air required is proportional to the fuel availability
To burn the fuel oxygen is needed.
Air requirement for dry combustion

aR scf / ft 3

reservoir volume burned

Combustion stoichiometry

379
aR
yiO2 EO2

2m 1 FHC

2
m
2
4

mR

12 FHC

Some air does not contribute to combustion but stored

in the burned volume at high Ps

aR* aR ( R / Bgi )

EO2 : Combustion efficiency of oxygen

Material balance
Experimentally from steady-state combustion by measuring the air rate and front velocity

aR* ua / v f

scf/sq ft-hr
22

Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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AIR REQUIREMENT: EXAMPLE

Compute the air requirement in scf/cu ft of reservoir burned

Material balance
aR* ua / v f (29.52scf / ft 2 hr )(hr / 0.1286 ft )

Combustion stoichiometry

a R* a R (R / Bgi )

mR (18kg / m3 )(m 3 / 35.315 ft 3 )(lbm / 0.454kg ) 1.123lbm fuel / ft 3 reservoir.burned

nCO2
nCO

aR

10 / 4 2.5

379
yiO2 EO2

2m 1 FHC

4
2m 2

mR

12 FHC

Bgi Tb 460 / 520(14.696 / p ) (1,211.4 / 520)(14.696 / 159.5) 0.2146 ft 3 / scf

aR* aR (R / Bgi ) 227.4 (0.36 / 0.2146) 229.1scf / ft 3

23
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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DISPLACEMENT FROM BURNED ZONE

To find
the volume of displaced oil and water
air/oil ratio for the burned zone
volume of combustion gases
for HTO using combustion stoichiometry

Combustion front displaces all oil and water that was not consumed

Vob VRb ( S oi S oF )
SoF : oil saturation equivalent to fuel consumed

S oF mR / F
F : density of fuel, lbm/cu ft (from 62.4 to original crude density)
Water displaced from the burned volume

Vwb VRb ( S iw S wF )
SwF : water saturation equivalent to water produced by the combustion reaction

S oF mR / F
F : density of fuel, lbm/cu ft (from 62.4 to original crude density)
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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24

DISPLACEMENT FROM BURNED ZONE

Water produced by the combustion reaction per cu-ft reservoir volume (from stoichiometry

9.0mR FHC
ft 3 H 2O
Vw
w (12 FHC ) ft 3reservoir.burned
There is FHC /2 mol of water produced per mole fuel

S wF 9.0mR FHC / w (12 FHC )

The ratio of air injected to oil displaced
FAOb

a R* ( scf / ft 3 reservoir.burned )(5.615 ft 3 / bbl )

R ( ft 3 PV / ft 3reservoir.volume)( S oi S oF )( ft 3oil / ft 3 PV )

FAOb

aR*
scf
5.615
R ( S oi S oF ) bbl

25
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

Short Course - EOR

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South Belridge project

aR* 385scf / cu ft
mR 2.20lbm / cu ft

R 0.36
F 343lbm / bbl
S oi 0.60

S oF mR / F 0.10
FAOb

aR*
scf
5.615
12,010 scf / bbl
R ( S oi S oF ) bbl

EXAMPLE 8.24
26
Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng

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