SPE-172813-MS

Thermal Approach for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Shallow and Deep

Reservoirs
Mohammed Amro, Thomas Muschalle, and Frederick Rose, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg,
Institute of Drilling and Fluid Mining

Copyright 2015, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference held in Manama, Bahrain, 8 –11 March 2015.

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Abstract
Thermal stimulation methods like hot water injection or hot steam injection are used worldwide since
many years to increase the production rate of oil fields. The main disadvantage is the heat loss between
the well head and the producing formation, leading to long treatment times and therefore high costs. The
objective of the project “ThermStim” is to examine the possibility for thermal stimulation of oil wells in
the near wellbore area and further regions, utilizing a heat generating capsule, which can be placed in the
wellbore right at the producing formation. The heat is generated by the reaction of Thermite. The reaction
is exothermal without any need for external oxygen supply. Thermite is used for the welding of railroad
tracks since the 1920’s on a world wide scale. It is an approved, reliable and inexpensive technique. By
placing the heat source within the formation, the heat transfer in the upper part of the well is eliminated.
Additional water treatment facilities become obsolete, too.
The method is patented and is by now examined for its technical applicability. In a first step the
handling of capsules with Thermite for heat generation was tested. First optimizations on the Thermite
mixture and the capsule were done. At the same time a high pressure-high temperature reactor (up to
300°C and 200 bar) was constructed and manufactured, to examine the behavior of the capsules under
borehole conditions. For safety reasons, regarding the intended pressure and temperature conditions, the
laboratory was built within the “Research and Educational Mine-Reiche Zeche”, which is operated by the
“TU Bergakademie Freiberg” (Germany), 142 meters below the surface.
A first series of experiments in the reactor was executed under pressures up to 30 bar. Further
experiments are planned with different mineral fillings e.g. water-saturated sand or water-saturated
artificial rock materials. Furthermore, experiments to examine the heat transport within the tubing and
solutions to reduce the convective heat transport above the capsule are planned, and first technical
solutions for a field experiment are evaluated.
The aim of the project is the construction of a probe that can be used in the borehole.

Introduction
Two thirds of all oil fields worldwide are in mature state of production (Alvarado & Manrique, 2010;
LBEG, 2014; RRC, 2014). These fields suffer from many problems, like pressure loss, increasing water
2 SPE-172813-MS

content and increasing viscosity of the oil. Therefore production declines. Thermal stimulation methods
like hot water injection or hot steam injection are used worldwide since many years to increase the
production rate of oil fields (Alvarado & Manrique, 2010; Souza, Cursino, & Pádua, 2005). These
methods reduce the viscosity of the oil and therefore increase the production. Steam assisted gravity
drainage has become a standard method due to horizontal drillings. The number of thermal EOR projects
has grown significantly, over the last years, with large steam injection projects world wide like Primrose
and Cold Lake in Canada, Midway and Kern River in the United States, Pekambaru in Indonesia,
Anzoategui and Zulia in Turkey and Emlichheim in Germany. Currently there are more than 126 fields
operating, that utilize steam for Enhanced Oil Recovery (Koottungal, 2014). The advantages of thermal
EOR methods are the easy application and that there is no risk for a permanent damaging of the formation.
The advantages and the good results from other projects have led to a large variety of methods like SAGD,
XSAGD, SA-SAGD, VAPEX and many more, that try to utilize hot steam injection with new borehole
completions or solvents to meet better solutions for certain field problems (Amro, Visser, & Rose, 2014).
The main disadvantage of all these methods is the heat loss during the transport of the steam between
the well head and the producing formation, leading to long treatment times and therefore high costs.
Furthermore the large amount of water needed might be an issue in some regions where water is sparse
and precious, as well as the neccesary treatment of the large amounts of produced water afterwards
(Willhite, 1967).
The objective of the project “ThermStim” is to examine the possibility for thermal stimulation of oil
wells in the near wellbore area and possibly further regions within the formation, utilizing a heat
generating capsule, which can be placed in the wellbore right at the producing horizon. The heat is
generated by the reaction of Thermite as given in Equation 1. Thermite is a powdered mixture of iron
oxide, aluminum and additives (Goldschmidt, 1895).
(1)

The reaction in Equation 1 is highly exothermal. Temperatures of up to 2500 °C are possible. The
reaction needs no external oxygen supply. Since no gas is produced during the reaction, there is no
permanent pressure build up within the capsule that might be a safety issue. The pressure within the
capsule increases, but oly from thermal expansion of the contained gas phase and diminishes after cooling.
The products are iron and aluminum oxide. Thermite is used for the welding of railroad tracks since the
1920’s on a world wide scale (Saita, Karimine, & Ueda, 2013). It is an approved, reliable and inexpensive
technique. All substances are non toxic and easy to handle.
By placing the heat source within the formation, the heat transfer in the upper part of the well can be
eliminated. Since oil wells are filled with liquid (namely oil and water) the heat transfer from the capsule
to the formation is assured. As a benefit, additional water treatment facilities for steam production would
become obsolete too. The method is patented by the Wintershall Holding AG and Elektro-Thermit GmbH
and is currently examined for its technical applicability.
Experimental proceeding
Before any experiments started, calculations were done to examine the dependency of pressure on
temperature in a closed container filled completely with water. Since water can be considered as an
incompressible fluid, a temperature increase leads to an increasing water volume and, if there is no room
for expansion, an increasing pressure within the container. First calculations showed, that the pressure
might increase with up to 7 bar/K. Our own experiments indicated an increase by 5 to 6 bar/K in a
completely water filled container. Therefore it was considered from the beginning of the experiment, that
a gas phase for pressure balance will be necessary, since the water was expected to reach the boiling point.
The first experiments on a 200 liter scale with Thermite capsules for heat generation were executed
under atmospheric pressure. First optimizations on the Thermite mixture and the capsule design were
SPE-172813-MS 3

done. At the same time a high pressure-high temperature reactor (up to 300°C and 200 bar) was
constructed and manufactured, to examine the behavior of the capsules under borehole conditions. For
safety reasons, regarding the intended pressure and temperature conditions, the laboratory was built within
the “Research and Eductional Mine -Reiche Zeche”, which is operated by the “TU Bergakademie
Freiberg”, 142 meters below the surface (TU Freiberg, 2014). It provides unique opportunities for various
research projects requiring certain safety or environmental conditions.
After the reactor was finished, a series of experiments was conducted under pressures up to 30 bar. The
first results of these experiments are given in this article.
Experiments under atmospheric pressure
In a first series of experiments the thermite capsules were tested under atmospheric pressure. The aim of
these experiments was to test the reliability and the handling of the capsules themselves and to get a first
idea of the possible temperature development within the reactor. Therefore, the dimensions of the
experimental setup under atmospheric pressure were chosen close to the reactor which was under
construction at this time.
For the first experiments a steel barrel with an inner diameter of 570 mm and a height of 883 mm
(volume 200 liter) was used. A base plate, made of aluminum, was manufactured at our institute to
centralize all the components which were to build in. A perforated steel tube with a diameter of 100 mm
and a length of 1000 mm was used as casing. It was centralized within the vessel with the base plate at
the bottom and a frame at the top. A PVC pipe with a diameter of 235 mm and a height of 600 mm was
placed concentrically around the steel pipe and the annulus was filled with sand. To achieve a higher
density and comparable results between the experiments the sand was tamped and watered during the
filling process. Wash out of the sand at the bottom of the pipes was prevented by a fleece beneath the tube.
Afterwards the barrel was filled with water, until the water level was high enough to cover the capsule
and the sand. Figure 1 shows the whole experimental setup before the experiment

Figure 1—Experimental setup for the tests under atmospheric pressure.

The thermite capsule was placed on a centralizer (length 300 mm) and held from the top with a second
centralizer and a spacer. Eleven experiments were conducted with capsules containing 500 g of thermite
4 SPE-172813-MS

(Figure 2) and six experiments with double capsules containing two times 500 g (Figure 3). Different
models of double capsules were tested. In the displayed version the ignition cable of the lower capsule
bypasses the upper capsule due to a spacer between the capsules, while for other models the ignition cable
was passed through the upper one. These capsules were easier to manufacture, but showed a number of
malfunctions and were discarded early in the project. The capsules were manufactured by “Elektro-
Thermit”, a company with 95 years of experience in the production of Thermite. There were two mixtures
available, which were labeled “A” and “B” by the company. ”B” was the slower reacting thermite, due
to different additives.

Figure 2—Single capsule with 500 g thermite.

Figure 3—Double capsule with two times 500 g of thermite.

High pressure experiments

Within the “Forschungs-und Lehrbergwerk Reiche Zeche”, a laboratory was installed 142 meters below
the surface. Since the reactor had a volume of 200 liters and was configured for a maximum operating
pressure of 200 bar and an operating temperature of 300°C, the mine offered a safe working environment.
The constant temperature of 12°C was an additional benefit, since temperature fluctuation as a source of
error were eliminated.
The body of the reactor was manufactured by “GESA Chemnitz”, the inner parts were manufactured
at the institute of drilling engineering and fluid mining. Along the lines of the experiments under
atmospheric pressure, the inner parts of the reactor consisted of a perforated casing with 100 mm diameter
and the annulus between the casing and the reactor body was filled with tamped and water saturated sand.
Eleven temperature sensors were installed Four sensors were placed at 200 mm, four sensors at 460 mm
and three sensors at 1110 mm above the inner bottom of the reactor. For every set of fours sensors, one
sensor was placed in contact with the casing, and the other three at a distance of 50, 100 and 150 mm
SPE-172813-MS 5

awayfrom the casing respectively. For the sensors at 1110 mm height, the sensor at 150 mm was left out.
Every circle of temperature sensors, was combined with one pressure sensor placed at the same height,
leadint to 3 pressure sensors installed in total. Two additional temperature sensors were placed in the top
cover and the bottom of the reactor respectively. These sensors were used to monitor the temperature of
the reactor body and to shut down the reactor automatically if the temperature at these sensors would
exceed the safety threshold. Purging of the reactor, pressure application and data aquisition was done with
hardware from National instruments and a program written in LabView, compiled at the institute. Figure
4 shows a comparison of the experimental setup under atmospheric pressure (left) and under high pressure
conditions (right). Figure 5 shows the assembled reactor with all sensors and the data acquisition device,
ready for the next experiment.

Figure 4 —Comparison of the experimental setup under atmospheric conditions (left) and high pressure conditions (right). The red dots
(left) mark the temperature sensors.
6 SPE-172813-MS

Figure 5—The assembled and configured reactor with all sensors and the data acquisition device.

Figure 6 —View into the assembled reactor with thermite capsule in position. The red cables are the ignition cables.

Results
The tests under atmospheric pressure showed, that the temperature of the water within the casing increased
rapidly after ignition of the thermite, until the water started to boil. At the outer side of the casing the
temperature increased also, but not as much as inside the casing. The water at the outer side of the casing
never reached the boiling point. After the temperature reached its maximum, it took several hours for the
whole setup to cool down again. Figure 7 shows the temperature development over time for a single
capsule experiment under atmospheric conditions. The sensors are placed on the outer side of the casing
as shown in Figure 4 (left). The temperatures are given as temperature changes from room temperature
for every sensor. First calculations showed that due to the heat loss by boiling and the heat transfer to
higher levels within the sand pack, only 20% of the produced heat stayed at the level of the capsule.
SPE-172813-MS 7

Figure 7—Temperature development over time for a single capsule under atmospheric conditions (experiment No 13).

Figure 8 shows a comparable experiment with two capsules, containing 500 g of Thermite each (Figure
2). The capsules were placed as shown in Figure 4 (left). Afterwards the lower capsule was ignited and
the upper capsule was triggered with a 5 minute delay. The delay was chosen in a way that the second
capsule would be ignited, when the temperature at the outer sensors within the sand pack (Sensor 2 and
4, Figure 4 (left)) would reach their maximum temperature from the first ignition. Thereby the temperature
within the formation can be raised stepwise. This stepwise ignition will be useful in the borehole to reach
greater penetration depth within the formation and higher temperatures, by igniting several capsules
consecutively at the same position. No significant difference in heat development was observed for
Thermite mixture A and B.

Figure 8 —Temperature development after ignition of two single capsules with a delay of five minutes (experiment No 14).

The High pressure/High-temperature reactor was assembled and pressures of 10, 20 and 30 bar were
applied. Capsules with 500 g (2 experiments) and 1000 g (7 experiments) of thermite were used. After
ignition of the thermite, the water started to boil in the reactor too. Figure 9 shows the temperature increase
over time for an experiment with a 1000 g thermite capsule. The data was taken from experiment No. 28
with thermite mixture A and a pressure of 30 bar.
8 SPE-172813-MS

Figure 9 —Distribution of temperature increase in a HT/HP Experiment over time (experiment No. 28).

The capsules with 1000 g of thermite led to higher temperatures at the outer side of the casing and
within the sand pack, as would be expected. Nevertheless the temperature stayed below 100°C, as shown
in Figure 9. The aim of the experiment was to increase the boiling point of the water by increasing the
pressure, but the boiling point stayed the same and neither did the pressure increase any further after
ignition of the thermite capsules. The reason therefore is the high heat capacity of the reactor. The formed
water vapor condensates immediately at the colder reactor wall. Therefore the pressure cannot increase.
The energy that is transferred to the sand pack at the height of the capsule is about 20% of the total
thermal energy and therefore comparable to the experiments under atmospheric conditions. Furthermore,
no difference in heat development was found for thermite mixture A and B, comparable to the experiments
under atmospheric pressure.
Conclusions and perspective
The experiments showed, that the thermal stimulation with thermite capsules is possible, nevertheless
experiments are on laboratory scale by now. For further experiments an external heating of the reactor will
be necessary, to provide higher initial temperatures, comparable to formation temperatures. This will lead
to a higher boiling point. If the boiling point can be elevated, the temperature at the outer side of the casing
is expected to increase also, since the heat transport in liquid water is more efficient than in water vapor.
The recently used capsules of thermite contained 500 and 1000 g. Larger capsules are in preparation for
the new set of experiments. Furthermore, additional experiments to examine the heat and mass transport
within the tubing are planned Technical solutions to reduce the convective heat transport above the
capsule are developed.
The thermite mixture is also open to further evaluation. No differences where found for mixture A and
B, but other mixtures will be examined to prolong the heat release.
SPE-172813-MS 9

Another objective is the production of a sand-clay-cement-mixture, which would provide smaller

porosities and permeabilities, as the sand pack, which has been used recently. The porosity reflects the
ratio of rock (mainly quartz) to water. Both have different values for heat capacity and heat conductivity,
which affect the temperature development within the reactor and the formation. The permeability
determines the fluid flow velocity, and wether the system outside of the casing is driven by convection
or conduction.
First steps were done to transfer the results of these experiments into simulations via COMSOL
Multiphysics. The aim of these simulations will be the determination of the parameters and conditions for
a field experiment. To evaluate the simulation, further lab experiments are necessary.
The aim of the project is the construction of a probe that can be used in the borehole. The probe will
contain larger quantities of thermite than those used in the lab experiments. Since the probe must work
reliable under borehole conditions, it will be necessary to design capsules and wireless ignition mecha-
nisms for those conditions in the near future.

Acknowledgements
The “ThermStim”-project, conducted at the Institute for Drilling and Fluid Mining of the Technische
Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, was initiated by Mr. Siemer and Mr. Stehle (Wintershall Holding
GmbH) and with financial funding by Wintershall Holding GmbH.

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