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Open Access
Integrating Supercritical Water and Catalysts: A Synergistic Approach for Heavy Oil Upgrading
1
Tecnológico Nacional de México/IT de Los Mochis, Los Mochis, Sinaloa 81259, México
2
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Kazan Federal University, Kazan 420008, Russia
* Corresponding Author:
Guillermo Felix,
[email protected]
Volume 2, Issue 1
2026
Received: 26 July 2025
Accepted: 11 August 2025
Published: 07 December 2025
Article Information
Published in
Journal of Chemical Engineering and Renewable Fuels
Volume/Issue
Volume 2, Issue 1, 2026
Pages
9-12
Abstract
The depletion of conventional hydrocarbons has forced researchers to focus on unconventional petroleum, i.e., heavy crude oils. However, the typical methods to recover the former are not suitable for the latter. Therefore, new technologies, such as supercritical water (SCW) upgrading, commercial and novel catalytic compounds have been proposed individually and in combination to solve the difficulties in recovering these reserves. In this work, the advantages and disadvantages, mechanisms, reactions, and challenges when using SCW and catalysts for heavy oil upgrading are discussed, giving a perspective for new synergetic approaches.
Graphical Abstract
Keywords
supercritical water
catalyst
heavy oil
Data Availability Statement
Not applicable.
Funding
This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under Grant 21-73-30023 (extension) dated 22.05.2025, https://rscf.ru/project/21-73-30023/.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflicts of interest.
Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate
Not applicable.
References
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Cite This Article
APA Style
Felix, G. (2025). Integrating Supercritical Water and Catalysts: A Synergistic Approach for Heavy Oil Upgrading. Journal of Chemical Engineering and Renewable Fuels, 1(2), 9–12. https://doi.org/10.62762/JCERF.2025.734454
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TY - JOUR AU - Felix, Guillermo PY - 2025 DA - 2025/12/07 TI - Integrating Supercritical Water and Catalysts: A Synergistic Approach for Heavy Oil Upgrading JO - Journal of Chemical Engineering and Renewable Fuels T2 - Journal of Chemical Engineering and Renewable Fuels JF - Journal of Chemical Engineering and Renewable Fuels VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 9 EP - 12 DO - 10.62762/JCERF.2025.734454 UR - https://www.icck.org/article/abs/JCERF.2025.734454 KW - supercritical water KW - catalyst KW - heavy oil AB - The depletion of conventional hydrocarbons has forced researchers to focus on unconventional petroleum, i.e., heavy crude oils. However, the typical methods to recover the former are not suitable for the latter. Therefore, new technologies, such as supercritical water (SCW) upgrading, commercial and novel catalytic compounds have been proposed individually and in combination to solve the difficulties in recovering these reserves. In this work, the advantages and disadvantages, mechanisms, reactions, and challenges when using SCW and catalysts for heavy oil upgrading are discussed, giving a perspective for new synergetic approaches. SN - 3070-1058 PB - Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge LA - English ER -
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@article{Felix2025Integratin,
author = {Guillermo Felix},
title = {Integrating Supercritical Water and Catalysts: A Synergistic Approach for Heavy Oil Upgrading},
journal = {Journal of Chemical Engineering and Renewable Fuels},
year = {2025},
volume = {2},
number = {1},
pages = {9-12},
doi = {10.62762/JCERF.2025.734454},
url = {https://www.icck.org/article/abs/JCERF.2025.734454},
abstract = {The depletion of conventional hydrocarbons has forced researchers to focus on unconventional petroleum, i.e., heavy crude oils. However, the typical methods to recover the former are not suitable for the latter. Therefore, new technologies, such as supercritical water (SCW) upgrading, commercial and novel catalytic compounds have been proposed individually and in combination to solve the difficulties in recovering these reserves. In this work, the advantages and disadvantages, mechanisms, reactions, and challenges when using SCW and catalysts for heavy oil upgrading are discussed, giving a perspective for new synergetic approaches.},
keywords = {supercritical water, catalyst, heavy oil},
issn = {3070-1058},
publisher = {Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge}
}
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Copyright © 2025 by the Author(s). Published by Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
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