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

石油和天然气是加拿大最大的天然能源资源，毫无疑问，石油和天然气的开采和收入是经济的重要组成部分。 随着全球对石油和天然气的需求增加，此外，随着石油价格达到最低值，重油和沥青的有效回收和提取方法已成为政府，石油工业，研究中心和大学的优先事项。 阿尔伯塔大学为开发经济和生态上可行的技术以开采或开采非常规石油储量和资源而开展的一项重大研究计划已由Babadagli博士自2011年以来在两个任期的NSERC工业研究主席（非常规石油开采）和三个任期的NSERC发现赠款（2003年至2017年）下开发和执行。 ** 这些举措旨在通过原位方法（热、溶剂和化学品注入）为有效开采重油提供即时解决方案和新技术。 作为这些尝试的延续，本项目将寻找和测试低成本材料和降低成本的策略。 这可以通过在现有操作（蒸汽或水注入）中添加新材料来实现，以提高重油/沥青采收率并降低蒸汽成本，并使用考虑流体和岩石特性的复杂性质的数值方法来优化工艺，以实现最小成本和最大利润。 与此同时，重点将是通过基础研究方法学来了解具有成本效益的回收过程的物理学和新一代化学添加剂的行为。 ** 在此背景下，本项目旨在解决以下技术问题，并提出一项新的研究计划，采用先进技术，如微（孔隙）到千兆（现场）规模的实验和数值模拟，以及可视化研究：*（1）优化在以前的NSERC发现资助期间实验测试的重油开采过程;* （2）蒸汽添加剂，降低界面张力，改善蒸汽稠油开采技术的性能; *（3）冷、热水注化学剂，提高稠油水驱效率。

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.