Generation and Stability of Microemulsion to Improve Heavy Oil Recovery by Waterflooding with Chemical Additives at Cold Conditions

• Author / Creator

  Lee, Jungin

• Thermal methods which are commonly applied to recover heavy oil have many limitations such
  as heat loss to thin or deep reservoirs due to temperature difference found in different parts of
  reservoirs, difficulty in recovering oil in low permeability deposits, high energy and water waste,
  and so forth. To solve these issues, nonthermal heavy oil recovery method, which is chemical
  flooding by in-situ emulsification, was investigated in this extensive study. Commercially
  available chemicals along with chemicals synthesized in the lab were first screened for their
  capacity to generate stable Winsor type 4 heavy oil-in-water emulsions using glass tube tests and
  microscopic visualization experiments. After the initial screening, stabilization tests and
  concentration tests were conducted for the purpose of cost optimization. Selected chemicals were
  then further synthesized to create Nano-fortified Pickering emulsions to create even stronger
  emulsions stability that can survive harsh reservoir conditions. Created complex Pickering
  solutions were then injected into glass bead samples, sandpacks, Berea sandstone cores, slim
  tube sandpacks at various rates in order to test and ensure their strength to generate in-situ heavy
  oil-in-water emulsions in porous media of various types. A novel, environmentally friendly,
  cost-effective chemical flooding method using biodiesel condensate (Biodiesel-in-water
  emulsion) was also investigated for its ability to recover heavy oil by in-situ heavy oil-in-water
  emulsion generation. Lastly, hard brines were introduced in the study to better simulate the real
  reservoir brine conditions and understand the impact that divalent ions can have on emulsion
  stability. Research results demonstrated that Pickering solutions, biodiesel-in-water emulsions,
  hardness resistant chemicals can help recover oil by heavy oil-in-water emulsification in porous
  media. Full Winsor type 4 emulsion production and significant increase in recovery could be
  observed with the addition of low concentration polymer (0.35%) as an emulsion stabilization
  agent to chemicals injected for sandpack flooding experiments at hard brine of low and high
  ii
  salinity conditions. These results confirmed polymer’s potential as a robust co-emulsification
  agent that can significantly help improve heavy oil recovery.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Colloidal solution
  • Cold flooding
  • Emulsion flooding
  • Heavy Oil Recovery
  • Chemical flooding
  • Microemulsion

• Graduation date

  Fall 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3445HV18

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.