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

岩心塞条件下溶剂迁移和沥青回收机制的可视化和量化

• 批准号: 566325-2021
• 负责人: Dehghanpour, Hassan
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=721609
• 关键词: Visualizing; quantifying; solvent; transport; bitumen

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.

蒸汽辅助重力泄油是油砂资源开发中最常用的技术。然而，这种技术涉及大量的水和能源消耗，从而导致各种环境问题。注入溶剂等添加剂可以减少水和热量消耗，最终优化回收过程，减少温室气体排放。本研究旨在通过实验研究在循环溶剂过程中溶剂进入油砂岩心样品并从油砂岩心样品中生产沥青的机制，并为现场规模预测建立实验室数据模型。实验中使用的油砂和沥青样品来自冷湖的清水地层。第一阶段包括在油藏条件下使用定制的可视化细胞进行循环溶剂过程实验。该细胞使我们能够可视化在多孔介质条件下溶剂-沥青的相互作用。对压力衰减、沥青采收率和可视化数据的分析将有助于了解溶剂注入沥青采收率过程中储层的相行为和运移机制。第二阶段涉及对测量的实验数据进行建模，以预测溶剂-沥青系统的相行为，并量化溶剂运输机制和沥青回收率。该研究的结果有助于油砂生产商通过控制溶剂的类型和数量，以及注入压力、浸泡时间和耗尽策略等操作参数来优化循环溶剂工艺。这一创新研究项目有望为加拿大带来显著的环境和经济效益。