Viscosity Reduction and Mechanism of Aquathermolysis of Heavy Oil Co-Catalyzed by Bentonite and Transition Metal Complexes
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors have provided an interesting topic in the field of aquathermolysis. This work is worthy of consideration and I would recommend the authors to improve their manuscript by taking into consideration the following recommendations:
Introduction: I would recommend the authors to widen the introduction part by stating the different enhanced oil recovery techniques which exist nowadays and explain the relevance of aquathermolysis comparing to other techniques such as in-situ combustion or electrical heating. Please check the following works which could be helpful for this section (https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/12/4/449, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.2c00965)
Line 16: could or can
Line 19 and 24: Please write down the meaning of NAD-Zn and GCMS
Line 26: What are these macromolecules?
Line 45: Please state the obtained results from the cited works
Line 51: Rephrase the phrase
Line 54: Gum or resins?
Line 63: The authors claim that current research focuses only on catalysts, which is not true. Please check our research about the effect of Iron oxide in the presence of clay’s minerals (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016236122017987)
Results and discussion: On which basis did you chose 0,1% of catalyst?
Table 1 and 2: please provide the error of your results
Figure 7: I would recommend the authors to provide another SEM image with high resolution and higher scale ( 10 nm for example)
Experimental Part: Table 4 please provide the estimated error of your results
Conclusion: Please add the implication of your research and recommend please future works in this field.
Author Response
Reviewer 1:
We are grateful for the reviewer’s positive comments and appreciate the helpful and detailed suggestions for our manuscript. We have incorporated all these insightful suggestions into the revised manuscript, as detailed below.
- Introduction: I would recommend the authors to widen the introduction part by stating the different enhanced oil recovery techniques which exist nowadays and explain the relevance of aquathermolysis comparing to other techniques such as in-situ combustion or electrical heating. Please check the following works which could be helpful for this section
(https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/12/4/449, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.2c00965)
Response: I carefully read the above two articles, and based on the content of the article to supplement the introduction of this article. We have added a brief introduction to current heavy oil extraction technologies and analysed their technical advantages and problems in the introduction.
- Line 16: could or can.
Response: Can is right. We have checked the full text to make sure this error does not occur again.
- Line 19 and 24: Please write down the meaning of NAD-Zn and GC-MS.
Response: NAD-Zn represents the composite catalyst formed by loading bipyridine-Zn(II) complex on sodium bentonite. GC-MS stands for Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry.
- Line 26: What are these macromolecules?
Response: The composition in heavy oil is more complex. The macromolecules mainly refer to the polyaromatic ring structures contained in the resins and asphaltene fractions of heavy oils.
- Line 45: Please state the obtained results from the cited works.
Response: The results have been derived from the cited works and are supplemented in the text.
- Line 51: Rephrase the phrase.
Response: We have rewritten the passage and highlighted it in the text.
- Line 54: Gum or resins?
Response: The resins is right. We have checked the full text to make sure this error does not occur again.
- Line 63: The authors claim that current research focuses only on catalysts, which is not true. Please check our research about the effect of Iron oxide in the presence of clay’s minerals (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016236122017987)
Response: We have carefully read the article you have provided and have rewritten this sentence. We have used the references you provided and enriched the content of the article. The adsorption between iron oxide and clay minerals is more mentioned in the references. In this paper, the interaction between transition metal complexes and clay minerals encompasses not only adsorption but also ion exchange. In addition, the mechanism of synergistic catalysis between transition metal complexes and clays is discussed and analysed in this paper.
- Results and discussion: On which basis did you chose 0,1% of catalyst?
Response: In this paper, the experimental conditions for aquathermolysis were 200°C, 4h and 30wt% water addition. We have provided explanatory notes in section 3.4 of the article to enable the reader to better understand the article.
- Table 1 and 2: please provide the error of your results.
Response: The error of component (SARA) analysis conforms to the standard of Industrial Standard of China Petroleum SY/T 5119. The permissible error requirements for the determination of the SARA analysis are shown in Table 1.The absolute errors of elemental analysis were C, H, N, S≤0.1% and O≤0.2%.
Table 1 Permissible error requirements for the determination of the four components
|
components |
Range of measured values |
Repeatability test |
Reproducibility tests |
|
Saturated |
12~27 |
1.2 |
4.0 |
|
aromatics |
21~47 |
1.6 |
2.4 |
|
resins |
31~55 |
1.6 |
4.3 |
|
asphaltenes |
≤10 |
0.5 |
1.2 |
|
≥10 |
1.6 |
2.4 |
- Figure 7: I would recommend the authors to provide another SEM image with high resolution and higher scale ( 10 nm for example).
Response: The catalysts NAD-Zn and NA were re-characterized by SEM. We have chosen higher resolution images to better illustrate the problem.
- Experimental Part: Table 4 please provide the estimated error of your results.
Response: The error of component (SARA) analysis conforms to the standard of Industrial Standard of China Petroleum SY/T 5119. The permissible error requirements for the determination of the four components are shown in Table 1.
- Conclusion: Please add the implication of your research and recommend please future works in this field.
Response: We add the implications of this paper's research and provide guidance for future work in the conclusion section of the article.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments to the Author:
This manuscript by Zhang and co-authors studied the co-catalysis of heavy oil by transition metal complexes and bentonite in aquathermolysis. Also, the effect of ethanol addition on viscosity of heavy oil was investigated. This study has good experimental design, strong results analysis, and mechanism probe. Overall, I can recommend the publication after following minor revisions.
Line 29, keywords: capitalize each Keyword.
Line 37, please add brief introduction of common upgrading methods for heavy oil beside aquathermolysis.
Line 79, pls provide full name of ‘SARA’ used to measure four fractions where it firstly appears.
I didn’t see a detail narrative for the reactor used in this study. This reactor probably needs to hold pressure based on the reaction conditions. If so, can authors provide the autogeneous pressure during aquathermolysis?
Author Response
Reviewer 2:
We are grateful for the reviewer’s positive comments and appreciate the helpful and detailed suggestions for our manuscript. We have incorporated all these insightful suggestions into the revised manuscript, as detailed below.
- Line 29, keywords: capitalize each Keyword.
Response: We re-read the journal manuscript template and revised it as required.
- Line 37, please add brief introduction of common upgrading methods for heavy oil beside aquathermolysis.
Response: We have added a brief overview of the various current extraction technologies for thick oil and analysed their advantages and disadvantages. The modifications are shown differently in the text.
- Line 79, pls provide full name of ‘SARA’ used to measure four fractions where it firstly appears.
Response: We have added an explanation of ‘SARA’ to the article so that readers can better understand the article.
- I didn’t see a detail narrative for the reactor used in this study. This reactor probably needs to hold pressure based on the reaction conditions. If so, can authors provide the autogeneous pressure during aquathermolysis?
Response: In order to study the changes of substances during aquathermolysis, this experiment was carried out under vacuum.
