Investigation of Emulsion Flow in Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage

Ezeuko, Cosmas Chigozie; Wang, Jacky; Gates, Ian D.

doi:10.2118/157830-pa

Cited by 25 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In other words, emulsion flow depends on relative permeability and end point values. This assumption agrees with Ezeuko et al [17]. They also stated that final cumulative production decreased with rise in defined W/O because of viscosity increase.…”

Section: Numerical Simulation Results and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Measurement of Viscosity Alteration for Emulsion and Numerical Simulation on Bitumen Production by SAGD Considering In-situ Emulsification

Kumasaka¹,

Sasaki

Sugai

et al. 2016

JEASE

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Abstract:A thermal steam stimulation process, such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), induces water-in-oil emulsion of heavy oil or bitumen throughout the production. The present study investigated the effects of in-situ emulsification in the oil sands reservoir for SAGD process. The viscosities of water-in-oil emulsions produced were measured with respect to water-oil ratio (W/O), shear rates, pressures and temperatures. The results therefore were employed to develop the numerical model of viscosity alteration. Numerical simulations of the SAGD bitumen production considering viscosity alteration were also carried out to investigate distribution characteristics of emulsion, water, and bitumen at steam chamber boundary and effects of in-situ emulsification on bitumen production behavior. With a model named SAGD-Emulsion Model, it was found that the net recovery factor of bitumen for this model is 5 to 10% higher than that of conventional SAGD simulation. Ultimately, it was found that the recovery factor of bitumen increased with W/O of emulsion generated in the reservoir since higher water content would invariably allow bitumen to flow at higher relative permeability, while the increase in viscosity merely delayed bitumen production.

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Section: Numerical Simulation Results and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Measurement of Viscosity Alteration for Emulsion and Numerical Simulation on Bitumen Production by SAGD Considering In-situ Emulsification

Kumasaka¹,

Sasaki

Sugai

et al. 2016

JEASE

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show abstract

“…There are no commercial reservoir simulators available that model these mechanisms directly. However, pseudochemical reactions have been used in commercial reservoir simulators to model emulsion formation indirectly, enabling the effect of emulsion formation and transport on SAGD performance 46,47 to be explored. The increased drag force of emulsions at the chamber walls and the high oil relative permeability (with oil as the continuous phase in water-in-oil emulsions) are potential factors that may partially account for the high oil recovery obtained in SAGD.…”

Section: Other Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can SAGD Be Exported? Potential Challenges

Álvarez

Moreno

Sawatzky

2014

Day 3 Fri, September 26, 2014

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In spite of its relative youthfulness as a commercial IOR technology, SAGD has had a profound impact on the development of the oil sands in northern Alberta and consequently on Alberta's economy. The path from a concept as articulated and developed by an individual research engineer, Roger Butler, to a commercial recovery technology for exploiting Alberta's oil sands has at times been a rocky one. More than 30 years of applied research and development at both the laboratory scale and the field scale by a community of researchers has been necessary to advance the technology to its current state of development. The SAGD technology has faced countless challenges since its origin. The public literature is replete with examples of challenges it has faced in the past, and others that are predicted to be just over the horizon. For example, more research and development will be required to expand SAGD to more challenging areas of the Athabasca region. The challenges will include reservoirs that have shale barriers, those that have bottom/top water zones, and those that are marginally too thin for conventional SAGD. Variants of SAGD, such as fast-SAGD, X-SAGD, and ES-SAGD, were conceived in response to the need to expand SAGD beyond the sweet spots in Alberta's oil sands where the original technology was demonstrated. Lessons learned from the application of SAGD technology in Alberta's oil sands may be useful to international producers from around the world that are interested in trying to adopt SAGD for use in their reservoirs. This paper will discuss potential challenges that may be encountered in the implementation of SAGD as the technology is migrated from its birthplace in the Athabasca oil sands to heavy oil and bitumen reservoirs around the world.

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“…Parallel flows are commonly observed in many applications such as packed bed reactors, micromixers, and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes. In EOR, the instability at the interface can significantly affect emulsion formation, [8] and for thermal oil recovery processes, it can also substantially enhance heat and mass transfer at the interface. [9][10][11] This is especially the case for steambased oil sands recovery processes, such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), where the main control on oil mobilization is heat transfer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Instability of parallel flow of two immiscible liquids in a pore and application to steam‐assisted gravity drainage

Lee

Gates

2021

Can J Chem Eng

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The instability at the interface between two parallel flows of immiscible liquids through a uniform planar pore is studied by using linear stability analysis. A characteristic equation determines the growth rate versus wavenumber, and instability conditions are determined. The instability is governed by a dimensionless group relating the ratio of gravity to interfacial tension. Interfacial tension has a stabilizing effect resisting the destabilizing gravitational force, limiting the range of wavelengths of unstable disturbances to be longer than a minimum critical wavelength. Application to flow of steam condensate and mobilized bitumen in the steam-assisted gravity drainage process shows that the instability is possible only over a specific range of temperatures given the densities of the steam condensate and oil in the reservoir. This instability may contribute to forming an emulsion which could help support oil drainage if the oil is hosted by the more mobile water phase.

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Investigation of Emulsion Flow in Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage

Cited by 25 publications

References 16 publications

Measurement of Viscosity Alteration for Emulsion and Numerical Simulation on Bitumen Production by SAGD Considering In-situ Emulsification

Measurement of Viscosity Alteration for Emulsion and Numerical Simulation on Bitumen Production by SAGD Considering In-situ Emulsification

Can SAGD Be Exported? Potential Challenges

Instability of parallel flow of two immiscible liquids in a pore and application to steam‐assisted gravity drainage

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