1. Scaling of Solvent Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes using Reservoir Simulation
There has been substantial interest in Alberta in using solvents for oil recovery to minimize the use of steam for in-situ oil/bitumen recovery. Understanding upscaling of solvent processes is still in its infancy as is understanding the mechanistic behavior of solvent recovery from oil/bitumen reservoirs. Reservoir simulation has been used in other processes to study scaling and scaling parameters. This project will begin with a brief literature review of research done in this area. The project entails setting up reservoir simulation models, likely for homogeneous and possibly heterogeneous reservoirs at various scales, and then implementing these simulations using a thermal compositional reservoir simulator, STARS. The principal investigator will aid the student in setting up the simulations unless the student has this expertise. It is likely that the research will focus on gravity drainage processes only. The output from the simulations will be analyzed and compared to determine the scalability of the process. This research will be used to determine the viability of using reservoir simulation to explore the scaling of this process. If time permits, the researchers may further explore the use of externally applied heat to the same reservoirs considered in the earlier part of the study. Also, if time permits, the researchers may explore the effects of various operating parameters, such as injection pressure, production pressure and mass transfer coefficients such as diffusion and dispersion. The focus of this project more recently has been on the use of multiple solvents for enhanced oil recovery.
Research area, student roles & skills
Research area: Solvents can be used in enhanced oil/bitumen recovery processes to minimize the energy footprint from the oil sands industry. Recently there has been a move to improve sustainability of oil recovery processes by eliminating the use of steam in in-situ SAGD processes. Solvents need less energy to recover oil, but these processes are still not well understood since, to date there have not been many successful pilots of these processes by industry. Some encouraging work has been done at the lab scale to suggest that these processes might be economically viable, but upscaling has not yet been validated.
Student roles:
The student must be able to work independently with the software package. It is expected that the scope of the project will be well defined and focused so that the student can make a significant achievement by the end of the project. There will be a tremendous opportunity for the student to enhance his/her reservoir simulation skills and knowledge in enhanced oil/bitumen recovery. The principal investigator will help the student to understand the research process from project conception to technical write up and presentation. At the beginning of the project the student and principal investigator will work together to understand the theory behind scaling solvent recovery processes. Once this is done, the principal investigator will work with the student to understand the importance of solvent processes in oil recovery. If the student would like to examine the impact of this study in more general application to clean technologies and reclamation, these ideas could be further explored.
Skills required:
The student should be interested in petroleum engineering, preferably with some background derived from petroleum courses. The student should be comfortable working with a computer and analyzing large amounts of data. The principal investigator is willing to provide some training in reservoir simulation, however, if the student does have some experience in reservoir simulation that will make progress on the project much easier. The student will have to be able to work independently and troubleshoot the running of the computer software. The student should also be familiar with Microsoft Office to write up the results of the analysis.