Solvent/heat-assisted recovery processes (SHARP)

溶剂辅助油砂沥青回收(如VAPEX、ES-SAGD、激光)已被认为是与目前基于蒸汽的回收方法(如CS和SAGD)相比，在节约能源、水耗和相关减少温室气体排放方面的有力候选者。尽管溶剂型回收工艺的概念和主要机理已为人所知，其中一些已在现场成功尝试，但对优化这些溶剂工艺至关重要的关键要素的缺乏程度令人震惊。缺乏在操作条件下溶剂-沥青相互作用的具体数据和机理理解。其中最值得注意的是1)溶剂对沥青的溶解度、混合物的粘度、密度和相行为等性质，2)非平衡输送性质，如溶剂在沥青中的扩散/分散，以及3)溶剂-沥青混合物在多孔介质中的相流。该项目的主要目标是建立一个坚实的基础知识，可应用于工业中使用的各种溶剂辅助回收过程，和/或可由致力于推进相同回收过程的研究人员建立。将根据这项研究创建的数据库，开发一种状态方程方法来对相行为进行建模。将根据测量的流体性质建立粘度和扩散系数的关联式。这项工作将创建所需的知识库，为油藏和过程模拟建立健壮、可靠和有效的模型。有了这些知识和这些工具，不仅可以设计和优化新的和现有的井下回收工艺，而且可以改进用于升级和精炼的技术。然后，这些开发就可以由工业界进行商业开发了。夏普联盟是基于溶剂的技术的关键推动者，这种技术在政治、社会和环境上都是可以接受的。其目的是支持工业开发回收和分离工艺，以较低的能源密集度和更环保的方式维持经济上可行的重油回收。

Solvent assisted oil-sand bitumen recovery (e.g. VAPEX, ES-SAGD, LASER) has been identified as a strong candidate for economizing the energy, water consumptions and associated reduction of the GHG emissions compared to current steam based recovery methods such as CSS and SAGD. Although the concepts and primary mechanisms of solvent based recovery processes are known and some have been tried successfully in the field, there is an alarming level of absence of the key elements which are crucial for optimizing these solvent processes. Missing is the concrete data and mechanistic understanding of solvent-bitumen interactions at operating conditions. Most notable among these are 1) the properties, such as solubility of solvents to bitumen, viscosity, density and phase behaviours of the mixtures, and 2) the non-equilibrium transport properties, such as diffusion/dispersion of the solvent in the bitumen and 3) phase flow of solvent-bitumen mixtures in porous media. The primary objective of this project is establish a solid fundamental understanding that can be applied to various solvent-assisted recovery processes in use by industry and/or be built upon by researchers working to advance the same recovery processes. An equation-of-state approach will be developed to model the phase behaviour based on the data base created from this research. Correlations for viscosity and diffusivity will be developed based on the measured fluid properties. This work will create the knowledge base needed to build robust, reliable and valid models for reservoir and process simulations. With this knowledge and these tools, it will be possible to not only design and optimize new and existing down hole recovery processes but to advance the technology used for upgrading and refining. These developments can then be pursued commercially by industry. The SHARP Consortium is a key enabler for solvent-based technology that is politically, socially and environmentally acceptable. The intention is to support industry in the development of recovery and separation processes that sustain economically viable heavy oil recovery in a less energy intensive and more environmentally benign manner.