An Experimental Study of Emulsion Phase Behavior and Viscosity for Athabasca Bitumen/Diethylamine/Brine Mixtures

作者：Kwang Hoon Baek, Francisco J. Argüelles‐Vivas, Ryosuke Okuno, Kai Sheng, Himanshu Sharma, Upali Weerasooriya · 发表于：SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.2118/189768-pa · 被引用次数：15 · 研究领域：Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques、Petroleum Processing and Analysis、Asphalt Pavement Performance Evaluation

Summary Water is the most dominant component in steam-based oil-recovery methods, such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). The central question that motivated this research is whether in-situ bitumen transport in SAGD can be substantially enhanced by generating oil-in-water emulsion, in which the water-continuous phase acts as an effective bitumen carrier. As part of the initial stage of the research project, the main objective of this paper is to present the ability of organic alkali to form oil-in-water emulsions that are substantially less viscous than the original bitumen. Diethylamine (DEA) was used as the organic alkali in this research. Experimental studies were conducted for emulsion phase behavior and viscosity for mixtures of Athabasca bitumen, DEA, and sodium chloride (NaCl) brine. Experimental variables included brine salinity, alkali concentration, water/oil ratio (WOR), temperature, and sample-aging time. The phase-behavior study indicated that conditions conducive to oil-in-water emulsions are low alkali concentrations at salinities less than 1,000 ppm. For example, a single phase of oil-in-water emulsion was observed for 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 5.0 wt% DEA with WOR of 7:3 with no NaCl. The emulsion for 0.5 wt% DEA, 1,000 ppm NaCl, and WOR of 7:3 was a single-phase oil-in-water emulsion at temperatures up to 403 K at 35 bar. At lower temperatures, 323 and 298 K, flocculation of emulsions in these samples resulted in the separation between the bitumen-rich and...