A Theoretically supported experimental study of in situ combustion

Date
1987
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The in situ combustion process for the recovery of crude petroleum from underground reservoirs is highly complex. Even on an elemental scale its analysis requires physical simulation of realistic reservoir conditions in order to expose its characteristic, but system-specific, relationships. physical and chemical reaction mechanism In the continuing effort to develop experimental systems for the elemental physical simulation of the combustion process, a new combustion tube system was designed, constructed and successfully tested. The system incorporates a novel combination of: an unconsolidated or consolidated core material use capability; the ability to employ high net external pressures while using a thin wall combustion tube; and the use of a modular design with respect to system components . An experimental program undertaken with the newly developed apparatus included isothermal reaction regime tests, supplementary flow characteristic tests, and an air combustion test series in the 4 MPa to 8 MPa pressure range using different crude oils and core material elements. The series was mechanistic in nature, with the goal being the revelation of the effects of specific experimental condition changes on the performance of combustion propagation. In addition to generating data from observed stable combustion processes, the experimental program revealed that a lower porosity consolidated core element required a greater injected air flux to allow process self-sustenance compared to an otherwise equivalent higher porosity unconsolidated material pack. A novel descriptive model of the high temperature (300°C+) region that uses combustion tube experimental data was developed. Applied to the experimental program stable run periods it revealed relationships among parameters including temperature, fuel quantity, oxygen partial pressure, gas volume flux, gas density , local heat generation rate , and distance with respect to the relatively small moving combustion region. The model application indicated that oxygen consumption was not confined to the highest temperature regions of the stable combustion process. It also gave insight into the experimentally observed flux/porosity - consolidation effect on combustion performance observed in the experimental program.
Description
Bibliography: p. 245-250.
Keywords
Citation
Sibbald, L. R. (1987). A Theoretically supported experimental study of in situ combustion (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/22071
Collections