Designer emulsions for enhanced oil recovery

在阿尔伯塔省和萨斯喀彻温省，大量的石油仍然被锁在储层和稠油油田中，这些油田在传统的开采技术下被认为已经枯竭。乳化液驱是一种有潜力的提高采收率（EOR）技术，可以促进剩余稠油的释放。特殊设计的水包油乳液将被用作低能非热驱驱油剂。Diamond QC Technologies Inc是Quadrise canada Corporation的全资子公司，该公司的目标是开发这项技术，作为其多年研发项目的一部分，该项目主要研究燃料和油气技术中的水包油乳液。该公司专门使用重油、沥青和戊烷沉淀沥青质制造稳定的水包油乳液。为了确保使用Diamond QC Technologies开发的乳化液配方的成功，该项目的目标是阐明地层油、驱油乳化液、孔隙水和固相如何在储层的孔隙结构中相互作用，以及如何优化乳化液配方以最大限度地提高石油采收率。四位学术研究人员与Diamond QC Technologies的研究人员合作，将集中精力了解这种EOR方法背后的孔隙级物理和化学过程。该研究将为基于乳液的EOR提供基础见解，并对油藏模拟中使用的孔隙尺度性质和运移模型进行重大改进。所获得的知识基础将有助于研究水包油乳液作为提高采收率的可行性。该研究的成功可能会通过引入新的EOR技术，为萨斯喀彻温省的重油行业带来生机，并为阿尔伯塔省的重油勘探开辟新的机遇。

An astounding amount of petroleum still remains locked in the reservoirs and heavy oil fields that are considered depleted in terms of traditional extraction technologies in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Emulsion flooding is a potential enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique, which may facilitate release of this remaining heavy oil. Specially designed oil-in-water emulsions will be employed as low energy non-thermal EOR flooding agents. Diamond QC Technologies Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Quadrise Canda Corporation, is aiming to develop this technology as part of its multi-year R&D project on oil-in-water emulsions in fuels and oil and gas technology. The company specializes in creation of stable oil-in-water emulsions employing heavy oil, bitumen, and pentane precipitated asphaltenes. To ensure success of the process employing the emulsion formulations developed by Diamond QC Technologies, the goal of the proposed project is to elucidate how the formation oil, flooding emulsion, pore water, and solid phases interact within the porous structures of the reservoirs, and how to optimize the emulsion formulations to maximize oil recovery. The collective expertise of four academic researchers collaborating with Diamond QC Technologies researchers will be focused toward attaining a fundamental understanding of the pore-scale physical and chemical processes underlying this EOR method. The proposed study will provide fundamental insights into emulsion based EOR, and spearhead major improvements in pore-scale property and transport models used in reservoir simulators. The acquired knowledge base will be instrumental in studying the viability of oil-in-water emulsions as EOR stimulants. The success of the study can potentially bring back to life the heavy oil industry in Saskatchewan by introducing a new EOR technology and open up new opportunities for heavy oil exploration in Alberta.