Coupling of Hydrocarbon Solvents of Hot Water for Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery

Date
2012-12-20
Authors
Luo, Weiguo
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Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina
Abstract

Abundant heavy oil reserves and increasing demands for energy have encouraged more and more interest in the exploitation of heavy oil. The recovery of heavy oil is challenging due to its high viscosity. The thermal recovery process has been widely used to reduce the viscosity and increase the mobility of heavy oil, namely cyclic steam stimulation (CSS), in situ combustion (ISC) and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). Among them, SAGD is the most popular method for recovering heavy oil. However, SAGD usually causes large heat loss and requires a huge amount of water and extensive surface facilities. Also it becomes inefficient in many reservoirs particularly those with thin pay zone, low porosity, gas cap and bottom water. In the past four decades, great efforts have been made to develop efficient and effective technologies for heavy oil exploitation. Vapour extraction (VAPEX) has gained considerable attention because it is energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Alkane-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) flooding has been investigated to improve oil recovery. Hybrid SAGD and warm VAPEX are studied to combine the effects of heat conduction and solvent dissolution. In this thesis, the potential of using hot water and solvent to displace and extract heavy oil is investigated, and the operation schemes are evaluated. A series of experiments, including hot water flooding, solvent injection and hot water combined with solvent (HWCS) injection process, were conducted to displace heavy oil through the core flooding tests. Their performance and oil recovery factors were recorded and compared to find the best operation strategy. More specific, the heavy oil was characterized and its thermal effects were investigated by analyzing its components, density and viscosity. The iii

Description
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Science, University of Regina. xvi, 142 l.
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