experimental study on viscosity reduction of iranian heavy export crude oil by using imidazolium based ionic liquids supported on zif-8 organic framework

Chemical - thermal technology is used to upgrade the quantity and to decrease the viscosity of iranian extra-heavy crude oil in atmospheric pressure. in this present work, ex-situ preparation of [omim][ntf2]-zif-8 (il@zif-8) nanostructures were performed solvothermally by using an oil-soluble long chain ionic liquids, [omim][ntf2] and a zeolitic imidazolate framework, zif-8. this complex was used in thermal cracking of heavy oil as a chemical additive. injection of a little amount of the il@zif-8 to extra-heavy oil caused to produce gaseous compounds, naphtha, middle distillates, lubricating oil and tar. the viscosity measurement results show an evident viscosity reduction by 91% for extra-heavy oil after chemical-thermal cracking at 370°c during maximum 120 min. the technique is ideally suited for cracking extra-heavy iranian crude oils such as nowrooz-soroosh oilfields. to the best our knowledge, no report was found about chemothermally cracking heavy crude oils especially by using il@zif-8 metal organic frameworks.