Review on new heavy oil viscosity reduction technologies

Abstract

Lots of gum and asphaltene in heavy oil caused high viscosity, high density and poor fluidity, which makes it very difficult to exploit and transport heavy oil. This paper introduces the mechanism and application of five new viscosity reduction technologies, including microbial viscosity reduction technology, biosurfactant viscosity reduction technology, ultrasonic viscosity reduction technology, magnetic treatment viscosity reduction technology and supercritical carbon dioxide viscosity reduction technology. At present, single viscosity reduction technology is difficult to solve the problem of heavy oil production and transportation. So the development direction of heavy oil viscosity reduction technology is the composite use of various technologies. In the future, it is necessary to develop new viscosity reduction technologies suitable for heavy oil production and transportation from the perspective of studying the structure and performance of heavy oil.