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Displacement of bitumen from reconstituted oil sands by aqueous solutions
Author(s) -
Margeson J. L.,
Hornof V.,
Neae G. H.,
Faurschou D. K.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450660402
Subject(s) - asphalt , oil sands , dilution , mixing (physics) , oil field , viscosity , steam injection , saturation (graph theory) , petroleum engineering , aqueous solution , materials science , geotechnical engineering , geology , mineralogy , chemistry , composite material , thermodynamics , physics , quantum mechanics , mathematics , combinatorics
A simple method has been developed for modelling the recovery of bitumen from packed beds of oil sand by water or caustic solution displacement. Batches of reconstituted oil sand were prepared by intimately mixing predetermined amounts of sand, water, and bitumen, thereby permitting the composition of the oil sand to be controlled and varied within a wide range. Dilution of the bitumen with hexadecane facilitated the mixing process and allowed experiments to be performed at low temperatures while maintaining oil‐water viscosity ratios comparable to those prevailing at the higher temperatures encountered during hot water or steam displacements in the field. The effects of a wide range of compositional and operational variables were studied using a two‐level fractional factorial design technique and the findings are discussed. Of particular interest are the observations that the density and initial connate water saturation of the oil sand exert significantly more effect on bitumen recovery efficiency for the case of water displacement than for caustic solution displacement.