Surface properties of slotted liners and associated interfacial interaction mechanisms in oil sands extraction process

拟议项目的重点是加拿大和全球石油工业面临的一个具有挑战性的问题：割缝衬管的失败，已被广泛用于有效的防砂在现场提取沥青。加拿大拥有世界第三大石油储量，仅次于沙特阿拉伯和委内瑞拉。现场提取技术如蒸汽辅助重力泄油（SAGD）被认为是最有前途的沥青提取方法，其可以提取地下深处的沥青，并且比传统的露天开采操作具有显著更少的环境足迹。割缝衬管在疏松稠油油藏和现场采油工艺中得到了广泛的应用，它可以有效地滤除采出油中的砂粒和其他污染物。在包括水、沥青、砂、粘土的复杂多相体系中，割缝衬管面临许多有害问题，例如由于砂/粘土的沉积、沥青的吸附和沉降以及电化学腐蚀而引起的结垢和堵塞。这些都将导致衬管性能失效（最终导致衬管材料的机械失效），对油田生产造成严重的负面影响。SAGD操作中沥青提取的效率、割缝衬管中的防砂性能、衬管表面上潜在的结垢和垢形成以及衬管槽的堵塞，从根本上由固体砂、粘土、沥青、水和衬管表面之间的分子间和表面相互作用以及局部流体动力学流动条件决定。拟议研究的目标，与RGL水库管理公司合作。(RGL)描述割缝衬管的物理化学表面性质，阐明油砂开采过程中导致衬管结垢和失效的相关界面相互作用机理，并帮助提供全面的解决方案，以更好地选择材料和涂层，改善油砂工业沥青原位开采过程中的性能。

The proposed project focuses on a challenging issue confronting the Canadian and global petroleum industry: failure of slotted liners which have been widely used for effective sand control during in situ extraction of bitumen. Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. In situ extraction techniques such as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) are considered as the most promising methods for bitumen extraction, which can extract bitumen deep in the ground and have a significantly less environmental footprint than the conventional surface mining operations. The slotted liners have been widely used in unconsolidated heavy oil reservoirs and in situ extraction processes, which can effectively filter out the sands and other contaminants from the oil produced. In the complex multi-phase system including water, bitumen, sands, clays and the slotted liners face many detrimental issues such as fouling and plugging due to deposition of sands/clays, adsorption and sedimentation of bitumen, and electrochemical corrosion. All these would lead to the performance failure of the liners (eventually lead to mechanical failure of the liner materials) and cause serious negative impact on oil production. The efficiency of bitumen extraction in SAGD operation, sand control performance in slotted liners, potential fouling and scale formation on liner surfaces and plugging of liner slots, are, fundamentally, determined by the intermolecular and surface interactions among the solid sands, clays, bitumen, water and liner surfaces, as well as the local hydrodynamic flow conditions. The goal of the proposed research, in collaboration with RGL Reservoir Management Inc. (RGL), is to characterize the physicochemical surface properties of slotted liners, and elucidate associated interfacial interaction mechanisms in oil sands extraction process that lead to the fouling and failure of the liners and to help provide comprehensive solutions for a better material and coating selection with improved performances in the in situ extraction process of bitumen for the oil sands industry.