RU2456068C1 - Method of physical-chemical processing of liquid hydrocarbons and flow reactor to this end - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: process engineering.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to processing of liquid hydrocarbons and may be used in oil industry. Flow electrochemical reactor is made up of the device for power conversion and release in fluids comprising flow chamber to create cavitation therein furnished with electromagnetic radiation source. Inlet tapered nozzle makes hydrodynamic converter arranged at working chamber inlet to contract the flow to required velocity in working chamber. S-like screw plate is arranged inside said converter to make vortex flow generator. Working chamber is made up of vortex tube made from elastic laminar material provided with outer jacket to allow flow hydrodynamic cavitation. Induction coil is arranged on said jacket to make electromagnetic radiation source whereto square current pulse is fed to act on cavitation vortex flow by pulsed electromagnetic field. Second hydrodynamic converter is arranged at flow chamber outlet, made up of flow splitter arranged ahead of inlet taper.

EFFECT: higher processing efficiency.

5 cl, 1 dwg

Description

The proposed invention can be used in the oil industry, in particular in the production and separation of synthetic gas obtained from a mixture of water and hydrocarbons from flooded wells. In addition, the group of inventions also relates to the field of special physical and chemical technologies and can be used in various fields of human activity, where decomposition of a liquid medium into constituent elements is required.

Known application for the invention "Method and device for heating liquids", application RU 2002113434, publ. 2003.11.20, IPC F24J 3/00, in which the preheating of the liquid is carried out with heat removed from the heat generator when exposed to cavitation liquid, however, the invention does not solve the technical problem of providing the possibility of processing liquid media during various physicochemical processes, exothermic chemical reactions, homogenization, emulsification, dissolution, etc.

The invention is known "Method for producing heat and a device for its implementation", patent RU 2242684, publ. 2004.12.20, IPC F24J 3/00, using the initial heating of the liquid coolant and the subsequent rise of its temperature to the temperature of its gas-liquid state by accelerating the pre-formed flow of the liquid coolant to a directed vortex state with subsequent selection of the received heat energy. However, the invention does not solve the technical problem of providing the possibility of processing liquid media during various physicochemical processes, exothermic chemical reactions, homogenization, emulsification, dissolution, etc.

The invention is known "Method of heating a liquid", patent RU 2171434, publ. 2001.07.27, IPC F24D 3/02, according to which heating in closed circulation circuits is carried out by creating a vortex or (and) cavitation mode of fluid flow and subsequent conversion of the received energy into heat before creating a vortex or (and) cavitation mode in it the currents forcefully change the structure of the liquid in the direction of increasing supramolecular structures, for which they influence this liquid with a magnetic field with intensity. The method is used in heating systems of buildings, while the design of such heat generators involves additional complex units located in front of the entrance to the heat generator. The method is effective in closed circulation circuits of heating buildings, uses processes of water heating processes, but does not solve the technical problem of providing the possibility of processing hydrocarbon liquids during various physicochemical processes, exothermic chemical reactions, homogenization, emulsification, dissolution, etc.

The closest to the method of physicochemical processing of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures is the invention "A method of energy release through rotational-translational motion of a liquid and a device for converting and releasing energy in liquid media", patent RU No. 2287118, publ. November 10, 2006, F24J 3/00, F15D 1/00, F25B 29/00, including ensuring the translational motion of the primary flow of liquid hydrocarbons, the formation of rotational-translational motion of the flow in the inlet nozzle, and simultaneously the formation of cavitation flow with sharp braking. It allows heat removal from the heat generator, but does not use a mixture of hydrocarbons with water (in this patent we did not intend to use a mixture of hydrocarbons, since the task was only to generate heat, but when testing at the bench and in the field at the well, adding oil to the water received synthetic gas, thereby proving the operability of the hydrodynamic converter as a flowing chemical reactor). It also does not allow intensifying physicochemical reactions to increase the efficiency of their occurrence and does not provide a solution to the technical problem of providing the possibility of processing liquid media during various physicochemical processes, exothermic chemical reactions, homogenization, emulsification, dissolution, etc.

The invention is known "Sound chemical reactor", patent RU 88295, publ. 10.11.2009, IPC B06B 1/02, B06B 3/00 H01L 41, including a standing wave resonator and a thermoacoustic pulsator. The invention allows to solve the problem of creating a large-capacity sound chemical reactor with high efficiency and uniform exposure to a sound field on each particle of the liquid passing through the reactor. However, it does not provide an increase in the efficiency of the processing of waterlogged hydrocarbon raw materials, as well as the possibility of processing liquid media during various physicochemical processes using the generated heat in confined spaces in waterlogged mines.

The invention is known "Device for the processing of heavy hydrocarbons", patent RU 2124550, publ. 01/10/1999, IPC C10G 15/08, B01F 11/02, containing working chambers, an inlet nozzle, to the lower end of which a nozzle is attached with nozzles associated with the outlet diffusers, an outlet nozzle, a swirler, means for generating acoustic radiation, a housing with the formation of gaps . The device allows to obtain light fractions from heavy hydrocarbons, as well as to increase the efficiency of the hydrocarbon processing process. However, it does not provide the possibility of processing liquid media during various physicochemical processes, exothermic chemical reactions, homogenization, emulsification, dissolution, etc. using the generated heat in injection wells.

The invention is known "Cavitation type heat generator", patent RU 2201561, publ. 03/27/2003, IPC F24J 3/00, including a cavitation vortex nozzle with an axial output nozzle, resonators with walls, in which electrodes are installed, in communication with a source of electrical voltage. The invention allows it to be used in cavitation mixers, homogenizers, dispersants, etc. apparatuses, however, does not allow to increase the efficiency of physicochemical processes of hydrocarbon processing together with water in closed systems, and also to use heat in these systems.

The invention is known "Cavitation heat generator", patent RU 2312277, publ. 12/10/2007, IPC F24J 3/00, containing a twisting device, a vortex chamber, an axial output channel, a resonator, electrode inputs. It allows you to significantly increase the intensity of cavitation and related physical and chemical processes in cavitators with a vortex chamber while at the same time gaining the ability to control the heat generation of the heat generator in a wide range. However, cavitation processes that excite liquid-water molecules at the molecular level in this device are not active enough, which limits the possibility of intensifying the heat release process in a closed system with the simultaneous production and separation of synthetic gas from a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons and water in injection wells.

Closest to the proposed device is the invention "Device for sonoplasmic stimulation of physico-chemical and technological processes in a liquid medium", patent RU 2393028, publ. 06/26/2010, IPC B06B 1/00, containing a working flow chamber designed to create a cavitation zone in it, a fluid flow into which is supplied through a narrowing cylindrical channel, while the working chamber is additionally equipped with a source of electromagnetic radiation, and a nozzle providing a flow regime different from laminar. The invention allows to intensify physico-chemical and technological processes and stimulate them by sonoplasmic effects on a continuous fluid flow. However, the cavitation noise level is not high enough, for example, to decompose water and produce hydrogen or oxygen from it, and synthetic gas from oil products, for this reason the device does not provide reliable destruction of highly viscous media. In addition, it does not allow to remove additional heat for use in a closed cycle of intensification of physicochemical processes in injection wells and at the same time to use it as a source of forced circulation of the mixture in this closed loop.

The purpose of ultrasonic chemical reactors is the intensification of existing chemical and technological processes, the creation of new technologies and the implementation of reactions that are not feasible or difficult to implement in traditional conditions. The operation of ultrasonic chemical reactors consists in supplying interacting liquid substances to the technological volume of the reactor and the impact on them of ultrasonic vibrations of high intensity.

The need to transmit ultrasonic vibrations to a large volume of the processed material and through the walls of the reactor leads to a decrease in the intensity of ultrasonic exposure, in addition, flow reactors are unsuitable for the implementation of physicochemical processes proceeding in the developed cavitation mode with the release of heat, since under the influence of only ultrasonic vibrations in the bubbles of a liquid medium, such reactions proceed rather slowly, which requires repeated repeated cycles of reactions such as ie hydrogen or oxygen from the water or synthetic gas from a mixture of water and liquid petroleum products. In addition, the released heat generated during the course of the reaction and during braking of the vortex flow in such reactors does not find its useful use. This is especially true in the mode of energy shortage in oil production from flooded fields.

The proposed technical solution allows to achieve the following technical result:

- improving the efficiency of the process of processing waterlogged hydrocarbon feedstocks;

- providing the ability to process liquid media during various physicochemical processes, exothermic chemical reactions, homogenization, emulsification, dissolution, etc. using the generated heat in confined spaces of injection wells;

- including:

- intensification of physico-chemical processes in a mixture of hydrocarbons with water to produce synthetic gas;

- the use of additional heat used in a closed cycle of intensification of physicochemical processes, in particular, as a source of forced circulation of the mixture in a closed loop during hydrocarbon production.

This technical result is achieved due to the fact that the method of physicochemical processing of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures and a flowing electrochemical reactor for its implementation are used.

The method of physicochemical processing of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures consists in using a device for converting and releasing energy in liquid media as a flow-through electrochemical reactor (PEHR) - a heat generator that provides the translational movement of a fluid working fluid — the flow of a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons with water, formation rotational-translational motion of the flow at the front end to the inlet nozzle and the simultaneous formation of secondary cavitation flows by compressing the flow in the inlet nozzle to obtain a speed that ensures the formation of cavitation flow at the exit of the output nozzle, accelerates the flow and imposes ultrasonic vibrations from the walls of the heat generator, converts cavitation flows into a simple turbulent flow with simultaneous sharp braking and subsequent expansion to obtain a pressure equal to the pressure of the primary flow of the liquid hydrocarbon mixture while additionally simultaneously with ultrasonic vibrations, they carry out a pulsed effect on the flow into the working channel vortex tube high-voltage power frequency. So, in particular, the frequency of electric networks of the Russian Federation, equal to 50 Hz, is used as an industrial frequency.

To implement this method, a heat generator with the following design features is used as a PEHR. Flow-through electrochemical reactor (PEHR), including a working flow chamber, designed to create a cavitation zone in it, which is additionally equipped with a source of electromagnetic radiation, an inlet nozzle providing a flow regime different from laminar, which works according to the principle of a heat generator. PEKhR is characterized in that a hydrodynamic converter in the form of an inlet nozzle of a conical shape is placed at the inlet of the working flow chamber, which compresses the flow to the required speed in the working chamber and inside which a flow former in the form of an S-shaped helical plate is placed at the inlet slice of the cone, the working chamber is made in the form of a vortex tube of elastic layered material and is equipped with an outer casing providing hydrodynamic cavitation of the flow, an induction coil is placed on the casing outside, which is and a source of electromagnetic radiation, to which a rectangular current pulse is applied, acting by a pulse-electromagnetic field on a cavitation vortex stream, a second hydrodynamic converter in the form of a flow divider placed in front of the output cone is placed at the output of the working flow chamber. Moreover, in particular, the vortex tube is made of elastic laminated plastic and is equipped with an outer metal casing,

Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of a device - flow-through electrochemical reactor (PEHR).

PEHR is arranged as follows. In the inlet nozzle (1), which provides a flow regime different from the laminar one, a stream of a liquid mixture of oil products with water is supplied at a certain speed in a ratio that is either calculated or obtained naturally in injection wells. At the front end of the inlet nozzle (1), a first hydrodynamic transducer is installed in the form of an S-shaped screw plate (2). The device provides translational motion of a fluid working fluid — a stream of a liquid hydrocarbon mixture with water, the formation of rotational-translational motion of the flow at the front cut into the inlet nozzle (1) and the simultaneous formation of secondary cavitation flows by compressing the flow in the inlet nozzle until a speed is achieved that ensures the formation of cavitation flow at the exit of the outlet nozzle. The output section of the inlet nozzle (1) is connected to a working flow chamber, made as a vortex tube (3), in which there is a further acceleration of the flow and superposition of ultrasonic vibrations from the internal elastic laminated walls (4), equipped with a metal or other strong body (5), providing hydrodynamic cavitation of a stream. An induction coil (6) is placed outside the housing (5), which is a source of electromagnetic radiation, to which a rectangular current pulse is applied, acting by a pulse-electromagnetic field on the cavitation vortex flow inside the vortex tube (3). Pulsed exposure to the flow in the screw channel by a high voltage voltage with an industrial frequency is carried out simultaneously with ultrasonic vibrations. At the exit of the vortex tube (3), a second hydrodynamic transducer (7) is placed in the form of a flow divider placed in front of the output cone (8). In the outlet cone (8), at the cut of which a second hydrodynamic transducer (7) is installed, cavitation flows are converted into a simple turbulent flow with simultaneous sharp braking and subsequent expansion to obtain a pressure equal to the pressure of the primary flow of the liquid hydrocarbon mixture. A pipe (9) is placed on the rear cut of the outlet cone (8), which discharges the generated synthetic gas together with the fractions of petroleum products. Moreover, the inner surface of the inlet nozzle (1) and the cylindrical part “L” of the vortex tube (3) can be made smooth or with screw channels. An S-shaped screw plate (2) is placed from the inside of the inlet cone of the inlet nozzle (1) on its inlet slice to create a vortex fluid flow at the inlet of the S-shaped screw plate (2).

Thus, the changes and improvements to the design of the hydrodynamic transducer, which is functionally a heat generator, determine its new functionality and work as a flow-through electrochemical reactor due to the following features.

In conventional sound chemical reactors, the degree of decomposition of heavy oils, especially in mixtures with water, is not high enough for the yield of light oil products and depends on the intensity of the electromagnetic field.

When using a heat generator with the modifications made, the physicochemical reactions in cavitation vortex flows change because the effect of a pulsed magnetic field on the vortex fluid flow through the cylindrical part “L” of the vortex tube (3) enhances the sound-chemical reactions taking place in the volume resonator, which is the working flow chamber, including a higher efficiency of the release of internal energy from the fluid flow inside the cavitation bubbles, making it possible to intensify the sound-electrochemical reactions inside them, sufficient to produce synthetic gas inside each cavitation bubble. With the appropriate selection of the values of the rectangular pulse current, it is possible to process liquid media during various physicochemical processes, exothermic chemical reactions, homogenization, emulsification, dissolution, etc. using the generated heat in confined spaces in injection wells; including the intensification of physico-chemical processes in a mixture of hydrocarbons with water to produce synthetic gas.

In the case under consideration, when working on an electrically conductive liquid, an electric current will pass through it due to the appearance of a relatively small and different in potential radius difference between the surfaces inside the cavitation bubble, which in the presence of vortex movement in the working flow chamber and the casing, to which a rectangular current pulse is applied , has an intense physico-chemical effect on the flowing fluid. This accelerates the processes of ionization, the occurrence of chemical reactions in the liquid at the micro level, in the cavitation bubble and, depending on the properties of the liquid, promotes the processes of energy release and energy exchange.

Due to the selection of acoustic and electrical parameters, PEHR can significantly intensify cavitation processes, and by combining the types and quantities of sources of elastic vibrations and electromagnetic effects, a plasma discharge is formed inside the bubble, which in turn allows stimulating physicochemical and technological processes in liquid media . The generation of elastic vibrations using an ultrasonic source, in the proposed case, from the vibrational processes of the walls of the vortex chamber, the emitting link of which are the elastic plastic walls of the vortex chamber located in the cavity of the working chamber, which ensures uniform density of cavitation bubbles over the cross section of the flow of hydrocarbon liquid. In this case, the production and separation of synthetic gas from a mixture of water and hydrocarbons is carried out with high quality characteristics of the final products and a significant increase in the yield of volumes of synthetic gas. However, only ultrasonic action requires either several cycles, or a sufficiently long time, from 5 to 20 minutes, of processing a unit volume of liquid hydrocarbon medium in a closed cycle, while additional pulsed action on the flow in the vortex channel of the PEHR with a high-voltage voltage with an industrial frequency, and also the use of the generated heat overcomes this disadvantage, significantly increases the efficiency of the process of production and separation of synthetic gas.

This effect is confirmed by the fact that in the space of elastic waves, cavitation occurs in the form of so-called stationary cavitation areas, consisting of separate cavitation bubbles and located at vibration nodes. Whatever the distortion of the profile of the pressure perturbation propagating from each of the cavitation bubbles associated with a change in the magnitude of the module and the direction of the velocity vector of its pulsation, the average propagation velocity of this perturbation over the period of the harmonic wave on average over the cavitation region should be equal to the speed of sound in the liquid. Otherwise, the law of conservation of the pressure pulse will be violated. Therefore, we can assume that pressure perturbations from cavitation bubbles during the period of a harmonic wave on average will travel a distance equal to the length of this wave in this liquid in a liquid. The phases of these pressure perturbations from the cavitation regions of the bubbles distributed in space at any point in space will not coincide for the same reason, i.e. the existence of a rate constant for the propagation of elastic disturbances in a liquid. This fact leads to the well-known phenomenon of mutual damping of pressure perturbations due to their interference and does not allow amplifying these pressure perturbations propagating from individual bubbles by superimposing on each other individual rarefaction or compression at an arbitrary point inside the cavitating fluid without controlling the pulsation phases of each individual bubble. In order to control these phases, an imposition of impulse disturbances (influences) on the flow in the screw channel by a high voltage voltage, for example, with an industrial frequency, is used. The use of industrial frequency greatly simplifies the application of this method and the device itself - PEHR.

At the same time, physicochemical reactions proceed with a significant heat release, which is diverted in a closed cycle to the pumping systems of both the liquid hydrocarbon medium and the pumping systems of the resulting final products, without requiring increased energy costs and replacing external energy sources with internal energy sources obtained as an accompanying product to these processes. Thus, energy consumption during hydrocarbon production is significantly reduced, and it is possible, due to additional intensive physicochemical processes in hydrocarbons, to obtain light oil fractions with the production of valuable synthetic gas due to the internal resources of the process of pumping liquid hydrocarbons. In addition, since hydrocarbon production in Russia is complicated by the water cut of oil fields, the proposed method provides an increase in oil and gas recovery by producing and injecting synthetic gas dissolved in formation water under high pressure through injection wells. Thus, the intensification of the stimulation process of physicochemical and technological processes provides a significant increase in the efficiency of production of liquid hydrocarbons with obtaining lighter fractions from flooded wells, as well as an increase in the yield of synthetic gas generated and separated from heavy fractions of liquid hydrocarbons using the heat generated closed loop process.

Thus, the additional heat used in a closed cycle of intensification of physicochemical processes allows, in particular, to use it also as a source of forced circulation of the mixture in a closed loop during hydrocarbon production. And, in addition, to increase the efficiency of the process of processing waterlogged hydrocarbon raw materials.

In addition, in the process of implementing this method using the device proposed for it, it is possible to control the phases of individual waves containing cavitation regions consisting of a finite number of bubbles at the vibration nodes. That is, it is possible to carry out phase control by controlling the interference of the acoustic cavitation field generated by a set of plane elastic waves propagating in parallel and independently from each other in the same total volume of liquid with the aim of adding with the same signs, that is, amplifying cavitation pressure disturbances inside cavitation bubbles.

Claims (5)

1. The method of physico-chemical processing of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures, which consists in the fact that as a flowing electrochemical reactor, a device for converting and releasing energy in liquid media is used, which provides the translational motion of a fluid working fluid - a flow of a liquid hydrocarbon mixture with water, the formation of rotational the forward movement of the flow at the front end to the inlet nozzle and the simultaneous formation of secondary cavitation flows by compressing the flow in the inlet nozzle to obtain I speed, ensuring the formation of cavitation flow at the exit of the output nozzle, accelerating the flow and applying ultrasonic vibrations from the walls of the heat generator, converting cavitation flows into a simple turbulent flow with simultaneous sharp braking and subsequent expansion to obtain a pressure equal to the pressure of the primary flow of the liquid hydrocarbon mixture, this additionally, simultaneously with ultrasonic vibrations carry out a pulsed effect on the flow in the working flow channel of the vortex howling pipe high voltage with industrial frequency. 2. The processing method according to claim 1, characterized in that the frequency of electric networks of the Russian Federation equal to 50 Hz is used as the industrial frequency. 3. Flow-through electrochemical reactor, including a working flow chamber, designed to create a cavitation zone in it, which is additionally equipped with a source of electromagnetic radiation, an inlet nozzle providing a flow regime different from laminar, characterized in that a hydrodynamic converter is placed at the inlet of the working flow chamber in the form of an inlet nozzle of a conical shape, providing compression of the flow to the required speed in the working chamber, and inside of which a shaper is placed at the inlet section of the cone vortex flow in the form of an S-shaped helical plate, the working chamber is made in the form of a vortex tube of elastic layered material and is equipped with an outer casing providing hydrodynamic cavitation of the flow, an induction coil is placed on the casing from the outside, which is a source of electromagnetic radiation, to which a rectangular current pulse is supplied, acting by a pulse-electromagnetic field on a cavitation vortex flow, a second hydrodynamic converter is placed at the output of the working flow chamber flow divider means, arranged before the outlet cone. 4. Flow-through electrochemical reactor according to claim 3, characterized in that the vortex tube is made of elastic laminated plastic. 5. Flow-through electrochemical reactor according to claim 3, characterized in that the vortex tube is equipped with an outer metal casing.