Review on Microwave Application in Petroleum processing

Microwave energy is becoming the most diverse form of energy transfer, used in the petroleum industry for inspecting coiled tubing and line Pipe, measuring multiphase flow, and the mobilization of asphaltic crude oil. Depletion of conventional crude oil reserves creates economic Demand for various fuels; in Canada, efforts have intensified to develop microwave technology for in-situ enhanced oil recovery of heavy oil/Bitumen; about 26 of the estimated 30 billion barrels of heavy oil are considered unrecoverable using current technology. Specific objectives included Studying microwave process conditions affecting upgrading of heavy oil/bitumen to synthetic crude and achieve up to 50% desulphurization. This review provides a general overview of microwave applications in oil sands bitumen or shale oil pro-Duction in petroleum upgrading. The vast oil reserves in the oil sands of Alberta will become a major source of petroleum products in the near future and a number of alternative technologies have been explored for the production and upgrading of oil sands and heavy oil.