Using petroleum/biomass refinery concepts to develop technologies for <italic style="font-style: italic">in-situ</italic> upgrading of heavy petroleum

Samano Vicente; Ancheyta Jorge; Félix Guillermo; Tirado Alexis; Varfolomeev Mikhail A.

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2025.10.003

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Using petroleum/biomass refinery concepts to develop technologies for in-situ upgrading of heavy petroleum

Updated：2026-05-14

- Using petroleum/biomass refinery concepts to develop technologies for in-situ upgrading of heavy petroleum
- Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol. 90, Issue 2, Pages: 372-379(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  E.S.I.Q.I.E, Instituto Polit'ecnico Nacional, Zacatenco, Ciudad de M'exico 07738, Mexico
  Department of Petroleum Engineering, Kazan Federal University, Kazan 420008, Russia
  Tecnol'ogico Nacional de M'exico/IT de Los Mochis, Los Mochis, Sinaloa 81259, Mexico
- Author bio：
  
  Corresponding author. E-mail address: ancheyta.jorge@gmail.com (J. Ancheyta).
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1016/j.cjche.2025.10.003
  CLC：
- Received：25 May 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-08-04，
  
  Accepted：31 October 2025，
  
  Online First：05 November 2025，
  
  Published：2026-02
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Samano Vicente, Ancheyta Jorge, Félix Guillermo, et al. Using petroleum/biomass refinery concepts to develop technologies for in-situ upgrading of heavy petroleum[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2026, 90(2): 372-379. DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2025.10.003.
DOI：

Samano Vicente, Ancheyta Jorge, Félix Guillermo, et al. Using petroleum/biomass refinery concepts to develop technologies for in-situ upgrading of heavy petroleum[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2026, 90(2): 372-379. DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2025.10.003. DOI：

摘要

Abstract

New opportunities to use

ex-situ

upgrading technologies currently in commercial application or in development for petroleum refineries and biomass conversion wer

e identified to be applied for

in situ

upgrading of heavy crude oils. The following technologies were recognized:

in situ

catalytic gasification to produce hydrogen uses similar concept than catalytic gasification of biomass

catalytic aquathermolysis with hydrogen donors mimics the visbreaking of petroleum residue with hydrogen donors

and the use of supercritical water with or without catalyst for

in situ

applications is based on hydrogenation reactions with supercritical fluids. The viscosity reduction of heavy oils through catalytic aquathermolysis varies depending on the catalysts used and reaction conditions

which has been reported to be of up to 74%

and adding hydrogen donor can further increase to 85%. Various advantages and disadvantages were identified and discussed for

in situ

technologies

particularly the inhibition of coke formation

the degree of heavy crude oil upgrading

the requirement of surface facilities

the design of catalysts

and the investment and operating costs.

关键词

Keywords

references

International Energy Agency, Net zero by 2050: a roadmap for the global energy sector[OL], www.iea.org.

H. Shi, L.C. Ran, J. Ancheyta, In situ upgrading of heavy crude oils inspired by ex-situ petroleum refining processes, Fuel 365(2024)13111.

R.A. Arnold, J.M. Hill, Catalysts for gasification: a review, Sustain. Energy Fuels 3(3)(2019)656—667.

M. Asadullah, S.I. Ito, K. Kunimori, K. Tomishige, Role of catalyst and its fluidization in the catalytic gasification of biomass to syngas at low temperature, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 41 (18) (2002) 4567—4575.

L.O. Alemán-Vázquez, P. Torres-Mancera, J. Ancheyta, J. Ramírez-Salgado, Use of hydrogen donors for partial upgrading of heavy petroleum, Energy Fuels 30 (11)(2016)9050—9060.

A.A. Al-Muntaser, M.A. Varfolomeev, M.A. Suwaid, M.M. Saleh, R. Djimasbe, C. D. Yuan, R.R. Zairov, J. Ancheyta, Effect of decalin as hydrogen-donor for in situ upgrading of heavy crude oil in presence of nickel-based catalyst, Fuel 313 (2022)12265.

Q. Chen, Y. Gao, Z.X. Wang, A.J. Guo, Application of coker gas oil used as industrial hydrogen donors in visbreaking, Petrol. Sci. Technol. 32(20)(2014) 2506—2511.

I.A. Makaryan, A.Y. Kostin, I.V. Sedov, Application of supercritical fluid technologies in chemical and petrochemical industries, Petrol. Chem. 60 (3) (2020) 244—254.

S. Bensaid, D. Hoang, P. Bellantoni, G. Saracco, Supercritical fluid technology in biodiesel prod uction, Green Process Synth. 2(5)(2013)407—425.

J.D. Antolinez, R. Miri, A. Nouri, In situ combustion: a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge, Energies 16(17)(2023)6306.

J. Ancheyta, Introducing a new color of hydrogen: light-blue hydrogen, Processes 13 (5) (2025) 1566.

T. Babadagli, Development of mature oil fields: a review, J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 57 (3—4)(2007)221—246.

C.D. Yuan, P. Afanasev, A. Askarova, E. Popov, A. Cheremisin, In situ hydrogen generation in subsurface reservoirs of fossil fuels by thermal methods: reaction mechanisms, kinetics, and catalysis, Appl. Energy 381 (2025) 125219.

S.K. Maity, J. Ancheyta, G. Marroquín, Catalytic aquathermolysis used for viscosity reduction of heavy crude oils: a review, Energy Fuels 24 (5)(2010) 2809—2816.

B. Thangaraj, Y.K. Lee, Recent progress in catalytic aquathermolysis of heavy oils, Fuel 372 (2024)132089.

B.C. Lin, Q.X. Huang, Y. Chi, Co-pyrolysis of oily sludge and rice husk for improving pyrolysis oil quality, Fuel Process. Technol. 177 (2018)275,28.

X. Qu, G.Q. Zhou, C. Wang, F.Z. Wei, S.Y. Li, J.Q. Wang, H. Xu, Z.M. Li, Upgrading of Mackay River bitumen through co-aquathermolysis with lignin under mild conditions, J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 214(2022)110489.

G. Félix, R. Djimasbe, A. Tirado, M.A. Varfolomeev, J. Ancheyta, Kinetic study for the Ashalcha heavy crude oil upgrading at supercritical water conditions, Fuel 380(2025)133145.

Z.Y. Liu, Y.H. Li, F.H. Yu, J. Zhu, L. Xu, Co-pyrolysis of oil sand bitumen with lignocellulosic biomass under hydrothermal conditions, Chem. Eng. Sci. 199 (2019)417—425.

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

Removal of phenol via regulation of surface hybridization structure of activated carbon catalysts for persulfacte activation

Temperature-dependent pyrolysis product modulation driven by thermal pretreatment of Shendong coal

Optimized anchor and cell wall engineering boost UDP-glycosyltransferase display for glycyrrhetinic acid glycosylation in Komagataella phaffii

Synthesis and biological evaluation of chitosan-coated ZnO nanoparticles: Impact on fibroblast differentiation, mitochondrial health, and oxidative stress in mouse embryonic fibroblast cells

Innovatively designed sustainable electrooxidative route to 1-methoxy-2-acetone: Direct anodic dehydrogenation of 1-methoxy-2-propanol

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰

Using petroleum/biomass refinery concepts to develop technologies for in-situ upgrading of heavy petroleum

DOI：10.1016/j.cjche.2025.10.003

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references