Visualizing and quantifying solvent-transport and bitumen-recovery mechanisms under core-plug conditions

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Steam assisted gravity drainage is the most commonly used technique for the development of oil-sandresources. However, this technique involves heavy consumption of water and energy, and thus, causes variousenvironmental issues. Injection of additives such as solvents has been implemented to reduce water and heatconsumption, ultimately optimizing the recovery process and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.This research aims to experimentally investigate the mechanisms responsible for solvent transport into andbitumen production from oil-sand core samples during cyclic solvent processes and to model laboratory data forfield-scale predictions. Oil-sand and bitumen samples used in the experiments are from the ClearwaterFormation at Cold Lake. The first phase consists of cyclic-solvent-process experiments using acustom-designed visualization cell under reservoir conditions. The cell allows us to visualize solvent-bitumeninteractions under porous media conditions. Analysis of the pressure-decay, bitumen recovery, andvisualization data will help to understand phase behavior and transport mechanisms that occur in the reservoirduring solvent injection for bitumen recovery. The second phase involves modeling of the measuredexperimental data to predict phase behavior of solvent-bitumen systems and to quantify solvent transportmechanisms and bitumen recovery.The outcomes of this study help oil-sand producers to optimize cyclic solvent processes by controlling the typeand amount of solvent, and the operational parameters such as injection pressure, soaking time, and depletionstrategy. This innovative research program is expected to bring significant environmental and economicbenefits to Canada.