Improvement of Heavy-Oil/Bitumen Recovery Efficiency by New Generation Chemicals and Optimization Models

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Summary of Proposal:***Oil and natural gas are the largest natural energy resources in Canada and there is no doubt that the extraction and revenue from oil and natural gas is an imperative component of the economy. As the demand for oil and gas increases globally, and, furthermore, as oil prices reached their lowest value, an efficient recovery and extraction method of heavy-oil and bitumen has become a priority for the government, the oil industry, research centres, and universities. A major research initiative undertaken by the University of Alberta in response to developing economically and ecologically viable technologies for extracting or tapping unconventional oil reserves and resources has been developed and executed by Dr. Babadagli under two-term NSERC Industrial Research Chair (in Unconventional Oil Recovery) since 2011 and three-term NSERC Discovery Grants (between 2003 and 2017). ******These initiatives have aimed to provide immediate solutions and new technologies for efficient recovery of heavy-oil by in-situ methods (thermal, solvent, and chemical injection). As a continuation of these attempts, lower cost materials and strategies to reduce the cost will be searched and tested in this project. This can be achieved through the addition of new materials to the existing operations (steam or water injection) to improve heavy-oil/bitumen recovery and reduce the cost of steam and optimizing the process using numerical methods considering the complex nature of the fluid and rock characteristics for minimal cost and maximum profit. Meanwhile, the focus will be on the understanding of the physics of the cost-effective recovery processes and the behaviour of the new generation chemical additives through fundamental research methodologically. ******In this context, this project is designed to address the following technical issues and proposes a new research program using advanced techniques such as micro (pore) to giga (field) scale experimental and numerical modeling, and visualization studies:***(1) Optimization of the heavy-oil recovery processes tested experimentally in the previous NSERC Discovery Grant period;***(2) Steam additives to reduce the interfacial tension and improve the performance of steam based heavy-oil recovery technologies; ***(3) Cold and hot-water injection with chemicals to improve the efficiency of waterflooding of heavy-oil.