On July 4, according to TASS citing the press service of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, experts from the Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies at Kazan Federal University have successfully developed a catalyst using weak acid salts that can significantly simplify the extraction process of high-viscosity heavy oil.

The press service noted that heavy oil has high viscosity due to its high content of resins and asphaltenes, which poses a major technical obstacle for oil companies in its development. The Kazan University team has focused on research into catalytic in-situ upgrading processes for heavy oil, aiming to develop new technologies for oilfield extraction.

Researchers Alexey Vakhin and Yasir Abdulsalam from the university's In-situ Combustion Laboratory stated that experiments have confirmed that, in the presence of water-soluble salts (such as sodium vanadate, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, and sodium phosphotungstate), steam and carbon dioxide can synergistically alter the composition of heavy oil. Abdulsalam explained that weak acid salts enhance dehydrogenation, hydrogenation, and isomerization reactions of resins and asphaltenes, thereby reducing molecular weight and irreversibly lowering crude oil viscosity, with sodium metavanadate showing the best performance in reducing asphaltene content and viscosity.

Experimental data show that after applying the catalyst, oil production increased by 35%, crude oil viscosity at 20°C decreased by 72.8%, and sulfur content was reduced by 41.2%. The relevant research results have been published in the journal Energy Conversion and Management.

Vakhin revealed that the team is further studying organic/water-soluble compounds containing catalytically active metals. Previously, catalytic complexes developed by the laboratory based on transition metals have been tested in several heavy oil fields, confirming their significant effect in enhancing oil recovery.