Role of Liquid Hydrocarbon Oxidation for Safety in Upstream Oil and Gas Industry

上游油气操作，例如油气威尔斯井的钻探、修井、清洁和增产、石油分离和加工以及基于空气注入的提高的油采收率（IOR），可涉及在烃存在下的空气或含氧气体。在这样的操作中，空气或含氧气体可以有意地（作为过程的一部分）或不期望地（由于操作的性质）引入。 因此，当点火源也存在时，存在火灾和/或爆炸危险的可能性。 在过去几年中，发生了多起严重的油田火灾和爆炸事件，导致工人伤亡和设备重大损失。 在同一时期，在加拿大和世界范围内的此类操作期间，空气或含氧气体的使用有所增加。虽然有关于爆炸危险的条例，但没有明确的行业准则处理这些井场作业中的空气-碳氢化合物混合物。这主要是由于缺乏对与此类操作相关的复杂点火过程的基本了解。 因此，拟议的研究旨在建立各种油藏油的挥发，氧化和点火特性的基本信息，从阿萨巴斯卡沥青C5+冷凝物在一系列压力和温度。 此外，纯以及复杂的液体和蒸汽碳氢化合物/空气混合物的燃烧特性将被检查。 基于已建立的信息，可以开发相关的相关性，最终导致可以预测不安全状况的模型的开发。 建立的数据以及相关性将直接适用于工业设计安全和成功的上游石油和天然气业务。此外，该信息将有助于提供和/或升级急需的指导方针，例如由CAPP发起的行业推荐做法（IRP）18文件，用于处理井场作业中的空气-烃混合物。

Upstream oil and gas operations, such as drilling of oil and gas wells, well workovers, cleaning and stimulation, petroleum separation and processing, and air injection-based improved oil recovery (IOR), may involve air or an oxygen-containing gas in the presence of hydrocarbons. In such operations, air or oxygen containing gas may be introduced either deliberately (as a part of the process) or undesirably (due to the nature of the operations). Therefore, when an ignition source is also present, there is a potential for fire and/or explosion hazard. Over the past several years, there have been a number of serious oilfield fires and explosions that have resulted in worker injuries and fatalities, and significant loss of equipment. During this same period, there has been an increase in the use of air or oxygen containing gas during such operations in Canada and worldwide. While regulations exist with respect to explosive hazards, there are no clear industry guidelines dealing with air-hydrocarbon mixtures in these well-site operations. This is mainly due to the lack of fundamental understanding of the complex ignition processes associated with such operations. Accordingly, the proposed research is aimed at establishing basic information on volatilization, oxidation and ignition characteristics of a variety of reservoir oils, from Athabasca bitumen to C5+ condensates over a range of pressures and temperatures. Moreover, combustion characteristics of pure as well as complex mixtures of liquid and vapor hydrocarbon/air mixtures will be examined. Based on the established information, relevant correlations may be developed leading eventually to the development of models that can predict unsafe conditions. The established data as well as the correlations would be directly applicable to industry for designing safe and successful upstream oil and gas operations. Moreover, this information will aid in providing and/or upgrading much-needed guidelines, such as the Industry Recommended Practice (IRP) 18 document sponsored by CAPP, for dealing with air-hydrocarbon mixtures in well site operations.