TY  - CONF
PB  - Society of Petroleum Engineers
SN  - 9781613996867
Y1  - 2020///
A1  - Seng, L.Y.
A1  - Hascakir, B.
UR  - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85095700447&partnerID=40&md5=0b39d390b71f2f66e0c5c5824e54eb1d
AV  - none
TI  - Surfactant flooding performance for a Canadian bitumen recovery: Effect of polarity
ID  - scholars13707
KW  - Anionic surfactants; Asphaltenes; Bituminous materials; Cationic surfactants; Core samples; Crude oil; Floods; Heavy oil production; Microemulsions; Nonionic surfactants; Petroleum reservoir evaluation; Quality control; Recovery; Resins; Steam; Thermal oil recovery
KW  -  Bitumen recovery; Core flood experiments; Coreflood tests; Microscopic image; Polar fraction; Reservoir temperatures; Surfactant flooding; Surfactant solution
KW  -  Oil well flooding
N1  - cited By 5; Conference of SPE Canada Heavy Oil Conference 2020, CHOC 2020 ; Conference Date: 29 September 2020 Through 2 October 2020; Conference Code:164374
N2  - The objective of this study is to examine the impact of polarity on surfactant-steam flooding performance in the recovery of a Canadian bitumen sample. 10 laboratory-scale core flood experiments were used to investigate the interaction between the polar head of surfactants and polar fractions of the bitumen sample (resins and asphaltenes) in the presence of steam. A Canadian bitumen from Alberta with high polar fraction content; resins (17 wt) and asphaltenes (29 wt ), was selected. The bitumen sample was first characterized in terms of viscosity at reservoir temperature (10,000 cP) and API Gravity (12°). Then, coreflood tests were conducted by coinjecting steam with an anionic, a cationic, or a nonionic surfactant. The performance of three anionic, three cationic, and three nonionic surfactants was tested. Each core flood result was evaluated in terms of the cumulative oil recovery, the residual oil content, the produced oil quality, and the asphaltenes content of produced and residual oil samples. Then, bitumen's polar fractions (resins and asphaltenes) and bitumen itself were subjected to each surfactant solution under steam and liquid water conditions, and simultaneously their interactions were captured by an optical microscope. Analysis of microscopic images was used to explain the performance differences in each flooding test. Every surfactant-steam flooding process resulted in higher recovery than steam flooding alone. The greatest oil recovery was observed with the longest tail length anionic surfactant. It has been observed that the presence of asphaltenes in displaced oil inhibits the formation of microemulsions and consequently reduces the amount of produced oil. Further, we observed that the microemulsions are successfully formed between the resins fraction of bitumen sample and surfactant solution under steam condition. Hence, to maximize the effectiveness of surfactant processes in high asphaltenes content reservoirs, we highly recommend the use of asphaltenes precipitants prior to injection of any surfactant solutions. Copyright 2020, Society of Petroleum Engineers
ER  -