Bitumen and Heavy Oil Rheological Properties: Reconciliation with Viscosity Measurements

Bazyleva, Ala; Hasan, Anwarul; Fulem, Michal; Becerra, Mildred; Shaw, John M.

doi:10.1021/je900562u

Cited by 106 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Even with this limitation, the proposed model may still apply to fractured aquifers where the fluid primarily moves in relatively few concentrated flow paths with high flow rates, in which the flow behavior is likely to become non‐Darcian and can be approximated with the Izbash's law [ Quinn et al ., ]. Furthermore, the proposed solution may be theoretically significant for the flow of non‐Newtonian power law fluid, which has been recognized as a topic worthy of attention in applications such as petroleum engineering [ Federico , ; Babadagli , ; Bazyleva et al ., ] and chemical engineering [ Balhoff and Thompson , ; Broniarz‐Press et al ., ; Ciriello and Di Federico , ]. In contrast to the Newtonian fluid (e.g., water), the viscosity of the non‐Newtonian power law fluid is not a constant, but rather a power function of shear rate, which leads to a relationship between the hydraulic gradient and specific discharge described by the Izbash's law with a constant exponent m .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A generalized non‐Darcian radial flow model for constant rate test

Liu

Chen

Hong

et al. 2016

Water Resources Research

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Models used for data interpretation of constant rate tests (CRTs) are commonly derived with the assumption of Darcian flow in an idealized geometry, hence disregarding the non‐Darcian nature of fluid flow and the complexity of flow geometry. In this study, an Izbash's law‐based analytical model is proposed by means of Laplace transform and linearization approximation for interpretation of non‐Darcian flow in a generalized radial formation where the flow dimension may become fractional between 1 and 3. The source storage and skin effects are also considered in the model development. The proposed model immediately reduces to Barker's (1988) model for Darcian flow in the generalized radial formation and to Wen et al.'s (2008a) model for non‐Darcian flow in a two‐dimensional confined aquifer. A comparison with numerical simulations shows that the proposed model behaves well in low non‐Darcian flow condition or at late times. The proposed model is finally applied for data interpretation of the constant rate pumping tests performed at Ploemeur, showing that the estimated hydraulic properties (i.e., hydraulic conductivity, specific storage coefficient, non‐Darcy exponent, and the dimension of flow geometry) are well representative of the hydrogeologic conditions on the field scale at the test site after the exploitation of groundwater. The proposed model is an extension of the generalized radial flow (GRF) model, which would be of significance in the problem of choosing an appropriate dimension of flow geometry in which non‐Darcian flow occurs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A generalized non‐Darcian radial flow model for constant rate test

Liu

Chen

Hong

et al. 2016

Water Resources Research

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“…Also, a comparison of deasphalted versus whole bitumen viscosity allows us to evaluate if the contribution of asphaltenes, which self-associate, alters the EF and αij correlations. For example, at low temperatures, asphaltenes are known to contribute to non-Newtonian behavior (Abivin et al, 2012, Bazyleva et al, 2010 and the EF correlation would no longer apply. It is possible that the previous fitting to diluted bitumen data was skewed.…”

Section: Deasphalted Oil/solvent Mixturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting the Viscosity of Hydrocarbon Mixtures and Diluted Heavy Oils Using the Expanded Fluid Model

et al. 2015

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The Expanded Fluid (EF) viscosity model was recently developed for petroleum applications.While petroleum fluids can be modeled as a single component fluid, process calculations often require that the fluid be treated as a mixture of pseudo-components. For mixtures, the EF model mixing rules require binary interaction parameters, αij, between each component pair in the mixture, which are fitted to experimental data. In this study, a generalized correlation is developed for these interaction parameters as a function of the specific gravity and hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of the mixture components. The proposed correlation was developed based on a dataset which included viscosity and density literature data for pure hydrocarbon pairs at room temperature and atmospheric pressure and new data for pseudo-pairs heavy oil/solvent at temperatures from 21 to 175°C, pressures up to 10 MPa, and solvent contents up to 40 wt%. The correlation was assessed on a distinct test dataset which included viscosity data for pure hydrocarbon mixtures from the literature, new data for deasphalted crude oils diluted with paraffinic and aromatic solvents, and new data for crude oils diluted with similar solvents. The viscosities of the development and test datasets were predicted with an overall average absolute relative deviation (AARD) of 13% and 10%, respectively, compared to 36% and 50% respectively when ideal mixing, αij =0, was assumed. Finally, the correlation was tested on an independent dataset from the literature including viscosity data for crude oils diluted with a variety of solvents. The viscosities of the independent dataset were predicted with an overall average absolute relative deviation (AARD) of 14%, compared to 30% when ideal mixing, αij =0, was assumed. The deviations obtained with the correlated αij are almost as low as those obtained when fitting the data by adjusting the αij.

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“…Hepler and Hsi (1989) discussed the relation between viscosity and temperature of Canadian bitumen (Athabasca, Cold Lake, Peace River, and Wabasca). Bazyleva et al (2010) studied the rheological properties including the viscosity over the temperature range of 200 ~ 410 K. Athabasca bitumen and Maya crude oil were found to be solid-like materials up to 260 ~ 280 K and 230 ~ 240 K, respectively, and they are both Newtonian at higher temperatures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of temperature-viscosity behaviors of Karamay oil sand bitumen on the geomechanics in the SAGD process

Gao

Chen

2021

J Petrol Explor Prod Technol

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Viscosity-temperature behavior is important for the thermal recovery of bitumen: firstly, it is a criterion for evaluating the evolution of mobility with temperature, which affects oil production; and secondly, it determines the role of bitumen in the geomechanics in oil sand reservoir. To quantitatively evaluate the effect of temperature on dynamic viscosity, some experimental and modeling investigations were conducted. The viscosity of Karamay oil sand bitumen over a temperature range of 20 ~ 350 °C was measured, and the viscosity-temperature behavior was simulated by a modified three-parameter model using the least square method. It was found that the viscosity of Karamay bitumen drops sharply with the temperature increase. The effect of bitumen viscosity on the geomechanics in the SAGD process was discussed in terms of reservoir deformation, fluid flow, and heat transfer behaviors. The reservoir deformation, fluid flow, and heat transfer behaviors at varying bitumen viscosity show significant differences in the drained, partially drained, and undrained geomechanical zones. The structure’s bulk modulus, effective stress, and volumetric strain in the drained zone are lower than those in the undrained zone; while the oil mobility and Peclet number show the opposite tendency. The changes in the structure’s bulk modulus, effective stress, volumetric strain, oil mobility, and Peclet number due to the phase change of bitumen increase with the increase of oil saturation. This study can provide the field engineers with guidance for the design of a proper oil recovery scheme before its implementation, and with a useful relation for the coupled thermal-flow-structure analyses.

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Bitumen and Heavy Oil Rheological Properties: Reconciliation with Viscosity Measurements

Cited by 106 publications

References 20 publications

A generalized non‐Darcian radial flow model for constant rate test

A generalized non‐Darcian radial flow model for constant rate test

Predicting the Viscosity of Hydrocarbon Mixtures and Diluted Heavy Oils Using the Expanded Fluid Model

Influence of temperature-viscosity behaviors of Karamay oil sand bitumen on the geomechanics in the SAGD process

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