The experimental measurement of diffusion coefficient of carbon dioxide in heavy oil

Date
2012
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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to study the diffusion process of carbon dioxide into heavy oil, and evaluate diffusion coefficients under reservoir conditions. X-ray Computed Assisted Tomography (CAT) is used as the tool to monitor the diffusion process, and the Non-iterative Finite Volume method is employed to calculate diffusion coefficients. Density profiles as a function of diffusion time and distance were obtained from analyzing X-ray CAT images, and were used as initial data for the Non-iterative Finite Volume method to calculate the concentration and diffusion coefficients. The results indicate that diffusion time and distance affect on the concentration and the diffusion coefficient of carbon dioxide in heavy oil. Moreover, there is a strong dependency of the diffusion coefficient on the concentration of carbon dioxide. The effect of pressure, temperature and oil viscosity on the diffusion coefficient was investigated. The results show consistence with those reported in the literature for similar gas-heavy oil systems. It is illustrated that X-ray Computed Assisted Tomography and the Non-iterative Finite Volume method were successfully applied to study the diffusivity of carbon dioxide in heavy oil. It is expected that results from this study will be applied in further understanding of carbon dioxide based enhanced recovery processes for heavy oil reservoirs.
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Bibliography: p. 99-108
Many pages are in colour.
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Citation
Song, L. (2012). The experimental measurement of diffusion coefficient of carbon dioxide in heavy oil (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/4826
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