Coagulant-Flocculant Chemistry of SAGD Emulsion Breaker (EB) - Reverse Emulsion Breaker (REB) and Warm Lime Softener (WLS)

蒸汽辅助重力排水(SAGD)是一种热强化稠油采油方法，在加拿大阿尔伯塔省的油砂沥青开采中得到广泛应用。沥青水分离和采出水蒸汽处理是SAGD油砂开采过程中的两个关键工序。在SAGD操作中，沥青提取过程中通常会形成复杂的乳状液，必须对其进行处理以分离沥青和水。这些稳定乳状液的出现引发了与石油运输或催化中毒相关的挑战，迫使人们不断需要找到更有效和可持续的方法来处理和打破此类乳状液。因此，通常在产液到达分离容器之前对其进行化学处理，加入破乳剂(EB)、反破乳剂(REB)和稀释剂。温石灰软化剂(WLS)也用于去除用作锅炉给水的水中的硬度和微量油。对乳化、破乳、添加这些化学品的影响以及沥青/水界面的界面性质的表征和更好的基础了解，对于操作员更好地控制化学处理过程，以实现更有效的油水分离和更好的采出水质量以进行进一步处理至关重要。因此，NSERC提出的合作研究与开发(CRD)计划将在混凝-絮凝剂化学领域进行全面的基础和应用研究。我们建议对乳液和WLS颗粒的物理化学性质进行系统的表征，并加深对用于SAGD现场热操作的EB、REB、混凝剂和絮凝剂专用化学品的基本原理的了解。这项研究将提供对界面性质的更好的了解，导致可预测的SAGD乳状液的聚结机理，促进下一代SAGD脱油装置操作的设计。

Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is a thermally enhanced heavy oil recovery method that is broadly practiced for bitumen extraction from oil sands in Alberta, Canada. Bitumen-water separation and produced water treatment for steam generation are two critical processes in SAGD operations for oil sands extraction. Complex emulsions are normally formed in bitumen extraction in SAGD operations which have to be treated to separate the bitumen and water. The occurrence of these stable emulsions induces challenges associated with oil transportation or catalytic poisoning, enforcing a constant need to find more efficient and sustainable methods to handle and break such emulsions. Therefore, chemical treatment by adding reagents such as emulsion breaker (EB), reverse emulsion breaker (REB), and diluent has been normally applied to the production fluid before it reaches the separation vessel. Warm lime softener (WLS) is also used to remove hardness and trace oil from water destined for use as boiler feed water. The characterization and an improved fundamental understanding of the emulsification, demulsification, the impact of the addition of these chemicals as well as the interfacial properties of bitumen/water interfaces would be critical for the operators to better control the chemical treatment process to achieve a more efficient oil/water separation and better quality of the produced water for further treatment. Therefore, the proposed NSERC Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) Program will conduct a comprehensive fundamental and applied research in the area of coagulant-flocculant chemistry. We propose to systematic characterize the physiochemical properties of the emulsions and WLS particle, and to provide an improved understanding of the fundamentals of EB, REB, coagulant and flocculant specialty chemicals used in thermal in-situ operations of SAGD. This research will provide a better understanding of interfacial properties, leading to a predictable coalescence mechanism in SAGD emulsions, facilitating the design of next-generation SAGD deoiling unit operations.