Experimental and Numerical Modelling of Hybrid Steam In-Situ Upgrading Process for Immobile Oil

dc.contributor.advisorPereira-Almao, Pedro R.
dc.contributor.authorWills Lopez, Violeta Carolina
dc.contributor.committeememberChen, Zhangxin
dc.contributor.committeememberMaini, B. B.
dc.contributor.committeememberMehta, Sudarshan A. Raj
dc.contributor.committeememberSalahub, Dennis R.
dc.contributor.committeememberOvalles, César
dc.date2020-11
dc.date.accessioned2020-09-10T16:33:40Z
dc.date.available2020-09-10T16:33:40Z
dc.date.issued2020-09-08
dc.description.abstractThe Canadian oil sands constitute the third largest accumulation of oil in the world. Various in situ recovery technologies are applied to extract the bitumen, most of them rely on steam injection which requires a large amount of energy while releasing a considerable amount of carbon dioxide. Because the bitumen produced from the Oil Sands is not pipeline transportable at surface conditions, it is necessary to improve its characteristics by lowering the viscosity and increasing the API gravity. An integrated concept for recovering and upgrading is presented by the In-Situ Upgrading Technology (ISUT), which partially replaces the injection of steam with a hot catalytic mixture that includes the heaviest fraction of the bitumen and hydrogen. ISUT is an alternative option for enhancing the recovery and upgrading the oil in the reservoir to produce a synthetic crude oil that meets the pipeline requirements reducing costs, environmental emissions, while eliminating diluent. In this work, a version of ISUT, which involves steam and hot nano-fluid injection, was evaluated by performing experiments in a vacuum insulated core-holder with a well arrangement similar to SAGD using the typical Athabasca reservoir properties and operating conditions of 450psig, 350⁰C and 8 hours of reaction-residence time. In-situ upgrading was assessed by performing comprehensive analyses such as viscosity, API gravity, simulated distillation, micro carbon residue, sulphur, and stability (P-value) of the products plus detailed characterization of the porous media after running the experiments. The main results indicated that the injection of the hot catalytic mixture enhanced the bitumen recovery and upgrading of the Athabasca vacuum residue. The occurrence of hydrogenation reactions allowed the production of upgraded products while coke formation was avoided.en_US
dc.identifier.citationWills Lopez, V. C. (2020). Experimental and Numerical Modelling of Hybrid Steam In-Situ Upgrading Process for Immobile Oil (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38173
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/112503
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultySchulich School of Engineeringen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectcatalytic upgrading of heavy oilen_US
dc.subject.classificationEngineeringen_US
dc.subject.classificationEngineering--Chemicalen_US
dc.subject.classificationEngineering--Petroleumen_US
dc.titleExperimental and Numerical Modelling of Hybrid Steam In-Situ Upgrading Process for Immobile Oilen_US
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEngineering – Chemical & Petroleumen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
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