Hot solvent injection for heavy-oil and bitumen recovery

• Author / Creator

  Pathak, Varun

• This research was undertaken to study the performance of paraffinic solvents at higher temperatures for heavy oil/bitumen recovery. Heavy oil or bitumen saturated glass bead packs, Berea sandstone and carbonate cores were used in the experiments to represent different types of pore structures, porosity and permeability.
  Final recovery and the quantity of asphaltene precipitated in each experiment were reported. It was observed that recovery decreased with increasing temperature and pressure of the system and that the best results were obtained when the experimental temperature is slightly higher than the solvent saturation temperature. It was also noticed that butane diluted the oil more than propane.
  Furthermore, numerical simulation was conducted using a commercial simulator including asphaltene precipitation option. Visualization experiments were also carried out using 2-D Hele-Shaw models to observe the effect of asphaltene precipitation on the dynamics of the process.
  Using this analysis, the mechanics of the hot solvent process was clarified and the impact of temperature, pressure, asphaltene deposition, permeability and solvent type on recovery were quantified.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Asphaltenes
  • Hot solvent injeciton
  • Heavy oil recovery

• Graduation date

  Fall 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3WX20

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.