As conventional oil and gas supplies are becoming depleted, the need to reduce the viscosity of heavy crude oil has become increasingly significant. This work aims to clarify the mechanism of viscosity reduction for heavy crude oil using a new method, the microwave irradiation technique assisted with okra powder nanomaterial. For this purpose, two setups are designed. The first setup was designed to measure the effect of prepared okra powder (1030.6 nm) on heavy crude oil to achieve the optimum conditions of flowability enhancement. The second setup was designed to show the effect of electromagnetic heating on viscosity reduction. To investigate the microstructure, effective functional groups, and particle size distribution of prepared powder, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), Particle Size Analyzer (PSA), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) have been used. For the first setup, the results showed that the optimum conditions achieved were at 100 ppm addition with 19.21 cP viscosity. Whilst for second setup, at a power of 800 Watt and 4 min treatment time, the viscosity reduced to 17.52 cP, while with the use of both nano biomaterial and electromagnetic heating, the reduction achieved was 15.02 cP which shows the high effectiveness of the electromagnetic heating mechanism on preserving low viscosity and improving flow characteristics even at moderate temperatures. This indicates a viscosity reduction of around 28.68%.
Khazaal, S. H. , Ibrahim, R. and Mowea, W. (2025). Viscosity Reduction and Flow Ability Enhancement of Heavy Crude Oil Using Nano Biomaterial Additive and Microwave Irradiation. Journal of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, (), -. doi: 10.22059/jchpe.2025.398861.1649
MLA
Khazaal, S. H., , Ibrahim, R. , and Mowea, W. . "Viscosity Reduction and Flow Ability Enhancement of Heavy Crude Oil Using Nano Biomaterial Additive and Microwave Irradiation", Journal of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, , , 2025, -. doi: 10.22059/jchpe.2025.398861.1649
HARVARD
Khazaal, S. H., Ibrahim, R., Mowea, W. (2025). 'Viscosity Reduction and Flow Ability Enhancement of Heavy Crude Oil Using Nano Biomaterial Additive and Microwave Irradiation', Journal of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, (), pp. -. doi: 10.22059/jchpe.2025.398861.1649
CHICAGO
S. H. Khazaal , R. Ibrahim and W. Mowea, "Viscosity Reduction and Flow Ability Enhancement of Heavy Crude Oil Using Nano Biomaterial Additive and Microwave Irradiation," Journal of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, (2025): -, doi: 10.22059/jchpe.2025.398861.1649
VANCOUVER
Khazaal, S. H., Ibrahim, R., Mowea, W. Viscosity Reduction and Flow Ability Enhancement of Heavy Crude Oil Using Nano Biomaterial Additive and Microwave Irradiation. Journal of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, 2025; (): -. doi: 10.22059/jchpe.2025.398861.1649
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