Viscosity Reduction of Heavy Oil by Aquathermolysis with Coordination Complex at Low Temperature

To seek for new catalysts for the aquathermolysis of crude oil under relatively low temperature, in this paper, a series of Mannich base-transit metal coordination complexes was synthesized and used in aquathermolysis of heavy oil as catalyst. The results show an evident viscosity reduction by 84.2% for the heavy oil reacted at 180 C for 24 h catalyzed by the Ni(II) coordination complex. The group compositions, the element content of the heavy oil and paraffin crystal morphology before and after the aquathermolysis reaction were analyzed, which are consistent with the viscosity reduction of the heavy oil. Besides the catalysts were also found to be widely applicable.