NITROGEN INJECTION FOR ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY

R. WUENSCHE

this article begins on the next page F

PETROLEUM SOCIETY OF CIM ATM-21 THIS IS A PREPRINT - SUBJECT TO CORRECTION PAPER NO. 78 - 29 - 44 NITROGEN INJECTION FOR ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY by Rolf Wuensche, P. Eng., Lotepro Engineering & Construction Ltd., Calgary, Alta. PUBLICATION RIGHTS RESERVED THIS PAPER IS TO BE PRESENTED AT THE 29TH ANNUAL TECHNICAL MEETING OF THE PETROLEUM SOCIETY OF CIM IN CALGARY . JUNE 13 - 16. 1978 DISCUSSION OF THIS PAPER IS INVITED SUCH DISCUSSION MAY BE PRESENTED AT THE 29TH ANNUAL MEETING AND WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION IN CIM JOURNALS IF FILED IN WRITING WITH THE TECHNICAL PROGRAM CHAIRMAN
PRIOR TO THE CONCLUSION OF THE MEETING 1. INTRODUCTION At today's prices, natural gas becomes more and more expensive for L@se in pressure maintenance of oil reservoirs. T@ie high cost of boosting declining reservoir pressure and production can be reduced through the sut,stitution of nitrogen for natural gas. Nitrogen is available in unlimited quantities from the air and can be produced in an Air Separation Unit (ASU), by cryogenic distillation of air, to a purity of 99-995 Mo] Des p i te va r i ou@. othe r ef f o r ts to p rod uce n i t rogen i n large quantitie!s and high purity by
other methods, the low temper@iture air separation process of today is still the most economical. If the market is available, it zilso allows for the production of the by-products of oxygen and rare gases, which are also contained in t@ie air. in the low temperature ai r separat@on pro<-.ess, the air is first compressed, then purified, remo,/ing water vapour and carbon dioxide, and cc)oled down to liquefaction temperature. Since indust:rial air is also contaminated with hydrocarbons these dangerou!; components in an ASU have to be re- moved before tlie rectification takes place
to obtain the required components. The removal of the water vapout- @and the carbon dioxide from the air is accomp- lisheci by one of the following processes: Mo@ecular Sieve Plants Reversing Heat Exchanger Plants (Revex Plants) or Regenerator Plants. ASU's differ very much from each other not only re- garding type, purity, quantity, physical condition of the desired products (gaseous or liquid) but also in relation to varying conditions of energy, cost of energy, capital cost and costs of operating and maintenance personnel. Besides this, plant owners expect to get the desired
products with a minimum of energy demand, the lowest capital investment and the most reliable plant with the minimum operating and maintenance costs. There- fore it is not always easy to find the optimum solu- tion in each specific application of an ASU. All these above mentioned criteria are also valid in t4itrogen-Generators when only Nitrogen for enhanced oil recovery is produced. Since the Nitrogen is pro- duced most economically by the low pressure process the product has to be compressed to the neces5ary injection pressure of the oil reservoir.
 PETROLEUM SOCIETY OF CIM PAPER NO. 78 . 29·44

THIS IS A PREPRINT - SUBJECT TO CORRECTION

NITROGEN INJECTION FOR ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY

by
Rolf Wuensche. P Eng.
lotepro EngIneering & Construc(lon Ltd., Calgary, Alia.
PUElUCATION RIGHTS RESERVED

THIS PAPER IS TO BE PRESENTED AT THE 29TH ANNUAL TECHNICAL MEETING OF THE PETROLEUM SOCIETY OF elM IN
CALGARY, JUNE L3 - 16. 1976 OISCUSSION OF THIS PAPER IS INVITED SUCH OISCUSSION MAY BE PRESENTED AT THE
29TH ANNUAL MEETING AND WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION IN elM JOURNALS IF FILED IN WRITING WITH THE
TECHNICAL PROGRAM CHAIRMAN PRIOR TO THE CONCLUSION OF THE MEETING

I. I NTRODUCTI Otl

At today's prices. natural gas becomes more and more
expensive for use in pressure maintenance of oil
reservoirs. The high cost of boosting declining
reservo! r pressure and production can be reduced
through the substitution of nitrogen For natural gas_
Uitrogen is avai lable in unl imited quantities from the
ai r and can be produced in an Ai r Separation Uni t
(ASU) , by cryogenic distillation of air, to a purity
of 99.995 Mol %.
Oespi te various other efforts to produce ni trogen in
large quantities and high purity by other methods,
the low temperature ai r separation process of today
is still the most economical_ IF the market is
avai lable, it also allows for the production of the
by-products of oxygen and rare gases, which are also
contained in the ai r. In the low temperature ai r
separation process, the air is first compressed, then
purified, removing water vapour and carbon dioxide,
and cooled down to liquefaction temperature_ Since
industrial air is also contaminated with hydrocarbons
these dangerous components in an ASU have to be re-
moved before the rectification takes place to obtain
the requi red components _ The removal of the water
vapour and the carbon dioxide from the ai r is accomp-
lished by one of the following processes:
'-. . types of ASU's and their basic components for the
Molecular Sieve Plants
Reversing Heat Exchanger Plants (Revex Plants)
or Regenerator Plants_
ASU's di ffer very much from each other not only re-
garding t.ype, puricy, quantit.y .. physical condition
of the desired products (gaseous or liquid) but also
in relation to varying conditions of energy, cost of
energy, capital cost and costs of operating and
maintenance personnel.
Besides this, plant owners expect to get the desired
products with a minimum of energy demand, the lowest.
capital investment and the most reliable plant with
the minimum operating and maintenance costs. There-
Fore it is not always easy to find the optimum solu-
t.ion in each speci fic appl ication af an ASU. All
these above ment.ioned criteria are also val id in
tH t.rogen-Generators I'lhen only Ni tragen for enhanced
oil recovery is produced_ Since the Nitrogen is pro-
duced most economically by the low pressure process
t.he product has to be compressed to the necessary
injection pressure of the oi I reservoi r. The re-
quired amount of Ni trogen, the injection preSSure,
and the injection scheme has to be determined by t.he
reservoir engineers, and are not discussed in this
paper_
In the fol lowing it. is proposed to discuss various
air purification as well as the economics of a
Ni trogen Genera tor_
 Z. DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS TYPES OF ASU
All cryogenic ASU's can be subdivided independenl of
the type of plant into the following sections:
Ai r compres 5 i on
Removal of H2 0 and CO 2
Heat exchange
Refrigeration and
Ai r separation.
In Revex and Regenerator Plants the removal of water
and carbon dioxide is combined ~'/i th the heat exchange,
but in a Molecular Sieve Plant rhese two processing
steps are conducted separately_
The schematic flow diagram of a molecular sieve plant
can be seen from Fig. I.
Air from the compressor goes through the water cooled
after cooler to 3 freon or ammonia refrigeration unit.
Here the air temperature is reduced close to the
Freezing point of water, where as much water as pos-
sible is removed. This step allows the molecular
sieve adsorbers to be reduced in size. The removal of
the remaining water, carbon dioxide and ~ydrocarbons
From the air take place in the interchangeable mole-
cular sieve adsorbers. The purified air is then
,'. cooled to its Ii quefact ion temperature in counterflow
with separation products in plate-fin-heat exchangers,
and Fed into the pressure column. In the pressure
column the I iquefied air is separated into a nitrogen-
and an oxygen-fraction containing approx. 40 Mol %
oxygen. Both fractions are fed into the LP-col umn
where the separation into pure oxygen at the bottom
and a more or less pure nitrogen fraction at the top
is accomplished. Both products leave the LP-Column in
a gaseous state and ore warmed up to ambient tempera-
ture in the main heat exchanger. The re~uired refri-
geration to cover refrigeration losses is generated
by means of the expansion turbine from a sidestream of
the purified air.
Figure 2 shows the schematic flow diagram of a regene- to remove all traces of flux.
rator plant. In regenerator plants both heat exchange ·ment of exchangers in di Fferent variations.
and condensation of water and carbon dioxide take place
in ltIe regenerator towers. These regenerator towers are
containers filled with a material of high heat capa-
ci ty. During the fi rst phase ai r from the compressor
passes through the first regenerator where the water
and carbon dioxide are condensed on the regenerator
fi 11 ing. A product stream, mas tly ni trogen, passes
from the LP-col umn through the second regenerator and
leaves the ASU.
During the second phase, at which time the First re-
generator has retained sufficient amounts of water and There are variouS types of regenerators which can be
carbon dioxide, the regenerators are switched. The
compressed ai r now passes through the second regenera- ture steel or aluminum. In Fig. 7 is shown a regenera-
tor and the ni trogen through the First regenerator.
The nitrogen picks up the deposited water and carbon
dioxide and is expelled From the unit. A pure pro-
duct, normally oxygen can be obtained by placing coils cularly uti lized when corrosive particles such as
in the regenerator. For this process liquefiers are
required to achieve the small temperature di fFerences
between the air and the separation products. Since
hydrocarbons can be carried into the distillation
c:ol umn , liquid or gasphase adsorbers for the removal of wi II not cause damage.
the hydrocarbons are necessary. The separation of the
liquefied air in the twO column system as well as the
refrigeration is as discussed above.
The third type of ASU discussed in this paper is an
ASU \'1ith reversing exchangers (Revex Plant) schemat-
ically shown in Fig. 3. A combination of heat ex-
change and water and carbon dioxide removal is also a
feature of the revex plant. Reversing heat exchangers
are ordinary plate-fin exchangers with reversing flow
channels, so that the condensed water and carbon
dioxide can be evaporated for purging. The difference
in operation between regenerators and reversing heat
exchangers is basically the heat storage capacity of
the regenerator Fil ling.
Since the heat storage capacity in the reversing ex-
changers is relatively small the heat exchange between
air and separation products is accomplished through
the walls of the separator plates of the reversing
exchangers. The removal of hydrocarbons is accomp-
I i shed in I i qu i d or gas adsorbers, as in the regener-
atcr process. The separation of the liquefied air as
well as the generation of the refrigeration is the
same as described under the mole sieve plant.
J. COMPONENTS OF HEAT EXCHANGE ANO REMOVAL OF HZO
AND COZ IN ASU
Plate-fin-exchangers used in revex plants consist of
stacked flat plates separated by corrugated sheets or
fins as shown in Fig. 4 and 5. The heat transfer is
assured through the plates, the fins with thickness
ot apprQ~. 0.2. mm serve for indirect heat transfer
and as distance pieces. The separator plates are of
a coated material with a thickness of approx. 0.8 to
1.2 mm. The coating serves to reduce the mel ring
po i n t of the shee t surface down to approx. SOOC be I ow
the melting point of the aluminum. When the assembled
and preheated exchanger is submerged in a mol ten sal [
flux bath. the coating mel ts and joins the different
components into an integral structure. Risks involved
wi th the manufacturing are obtaining a perfect equal
brazing connection, and careful cleaning afterwards
Fig. 6 shows arrange-
Disadvantages of reversing heat exchangers include
poor corrosion resistance due to very thin wall thick-
ness, and sensi tivi ty of upset operation. In the
revex system a guaranteed automatic temperature con-
trol system is critical. Without this control system
large quanti ties of water could enter the exchanger. or
fast temperature change intervals could cause thermal
stresses, under upset operating conditions. both which
would resul t in fracturing of the exchanger.
manufactured of various materials, e.g. low tempera-
tor with quartzite packing and product coils. Regene-
rator5 have much better resistance against corrosion
then reversing exchangers. This advantage is parti-
sulphur compounds are contained in the air. Since
regenerators have a large heat storage capacity [heir
sensitivity against malfunction is relatively smal I.
In addition carryover of larger quantities of water