Experimental and numerical study of solvent optimization during horizontal-well solvent-enhanced steam flooding in thin heavy-oil reservoirs

Huang, Shijun; Xiao, Chuanyun; Líu, Hao; Jiang, Jun; Cao, Meng; Xia, Yun

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2018.05.001

Cited by 29 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…However, the high viscosity of heavy oil often brings difficulties to its exploitation. Various approaches have been developed to solve them, such as thermal recovery, chemical recovery, and microbial recovery . Among them, catalytic aquathermolysis has become one of the most promising technologies in recent years …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spherical Poly(vinyl imidazole) Brushes Loading Nickel Cations as Nanocatalysts for Aquathermolysis of Heavy Crude Oil

Zou

Kuffner

et al. 2019

Energy Fuels

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Catalytic aquathermolysis in situ upgrading and reducing the viscosity of heavy oil in the reservoir remarkably enhances the recovery and is considered as a promising technology. However, the low catalytic efficiency and inferior dispersity in both water and oil limit its applications. In the present work, spherical polymer brush nanocatalysts were synthesized, in which nano-TiO2 is the core and poly(vinyl imidazole) (PVI)-loading nickel cations are polymer brushes. The chemical characteristics, polymer-grafting content, nickel-loading content, and morphology of as-prepared catalysts were characterized by infrared (IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The polymerization degree of PVI was analyzed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectra. The effects of the nickel-loading content, catalytic conditions, and hydrogen donor on the viscosity of heavy oil were studied. The results show that the heavy oil is catalytically cracked by the synthesized catalysts, which leads to the reduction of oil viscosity. The viscosity reduction is enhanced by the increase of the nickel-loading content, catalytic temperature, dosage of catalyst, and hydrogen donor. The rheological behaviors in terms of flow curve, thixotropy, viscoelasticity, and time dependence of cracked oil were studied. To explore the cracking mechanism, the four compositions of heavy oil before and after aquathermolysis were compared. The extracted asphaltenes and resins were further analyzed by elemental analysis, 1H NMR spectra, and IR spectroscopy. The organic compounds in reacted water were characterized by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. It is found that the content of light saturates is much increased after aquathermolysis, along with the distinct decrease of resins. From the structure change of resins, such as the decrease of hydrogen/carbon and methylene/methyl ratios and increase of aromaticity and aromaticity condensation, the increased light saturates are due to the dissociation of alkyl side chains in resins. In addition, the aromaticity and aromaticity condensation in asphaltenes are found decreased, which is because of the fragmentation and depolymerization of large aromatics. Meanwhile, the loss of oxygen in both asphaltenes and resins is connected with the phenols found in the reacted water, indicating the breakage of the C–O bond and heteroaromatic ring-open reaction in both asphaltenes and resins during aquathermolysis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spherical Poly(vinyl imidazole) Brushes Loading Nickel Cations as Nanocatalysts for Aquathermolysis of Heavy Crude Oil

Zou

Kuffner

et al. 2019

Energy Fuels

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“… 14 , 15 On the other hand, steam flooding is also one of the EOR techniques that can be applied to various reservoir and fluid conditions with improved operational techniques. There is an increasing number of steam flooding projects in carbonate reservoirs, 16 − 19 light oil reservoirs, 20 , 21 thin heavy oil reservoirs, 22 − 24 and offshore developments. 25 − 27 Before the implementation of steam flooding at a full field scale, a series of detailed preliminary studies, including laboratory tests, reservoir characterization, simulation, and pilot tests, are preformed to reduce the uncertainties and to minimize the risks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Steam flooding has been widely used for the production of heavy crude oil in shallow, thick sandstone formations. , Most of the steam flooding projects have been implemented in sandstone formations because most of the EOR techniques have been tested at the pilot and commercial scales in this type of lithology. , On the other hand, steam flooding is also one of the EOR techniques that can be applied to various reservoir and fluid conditions with improved operational techniques. There is an increasing number of steam flooding projects in carbonate reservoirs, − light oil reservoirs, , thin heavy oil reservoirs, − and offshore developments. − Before the implementation of steam flooding at a full field scale, a series of detailed preliminary studies, including laboratory tests, reservoir characterization, simulation, and pilot tests, are preformed to reduce the uncertainties and to minimize the risks . However, these evaluation studies are expensive and time-consuming.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pattern Recognition for Steam Flooding Field Applications Based on Hierarchical Clustering and Principal Component Analysis

et al. 2022

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Steam flooding is a complex process that has been considered as an effective enhanced oil recovery technique in both heavy oil and light oil reservoirs. Many studies have been conducted on different sets of steam flooding projects using the conventional data analysis methods, while the implementation of machine learning algorithms to find the hidden patterns is rarely found. In this study, a hierarchical clustering algorithm (HCA) coupled with principal component analysis is used to analyze the steam flooding projects worldwide. The goal of this research is to group similar steam flooding projects into the same cluster so that valuable operational design experiences and production performance from the analogue cases can be referenced for decision-making. Besides, hidden patterns embedded in steam flooding applications can be revealed based on data characteristics of each cluster for different reservoir/fluid conditions. In this research, principal component analysis is applied to project original data to a new feature space, which finds two principal components to represent the eight reservoir/fluid parameters (8D) but still retain about 90% of the variance. HCA is implemented with the optimized design of five clusters, Euclidean distance, and Ward’s linkage method. The results of the hierarchical clustering depict that each cluster detects a unique range of each property, and the analogue cases present that fields under similar reservoir/fluid conditions could share similar operational design and production performance.

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“…It can be divided into cyclic steam stimulation, steam flooding, SAGD, in situ combustion, and so on from the perspective of injection and production technology. , Cyclic steam stimulation and steam flooding, as the most important development technologies used to develop heavy oil in the world, contribute a large part to heavy oil production. , At present, the development of heavy oil by horizontal wells has occupied the leading position in China’s heavy oil development, and its production is 80% that of heavy oil. , Although cyclic steam stimulation is still the most economical and efficient heavy oil recovery technology presently, the recovery factor is generally less than 25%. Therefore, horizontal well steam flooding technology is still the most valuable technology for heavy oil reservoir development. − …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study and Thoughts on Safety and Environmental Protection of Steam Flooding of Horizontal Wells in a Heavy Oil Reservoir

et al. 2022

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Based on similarity criteria, a scaled physical model was fabricated, containing four horizontal wells and representing one-fourth of an inverted nine-spot steam-flooding pattern. A series of steam-flooding physical simulation experiments were carried out after different types of integral cyclic steam stimulations. Temperature distributions in the model reservoir, overburden, and substratum were measured at intervals. Production performance could be exactly recorded. The spatial temperature distribution of the whole model could be obtained. The phenomena of steam channeling, steam override, and secondary heterogeneity were observed obviously. The results that show steam flooding would cause steam overlap and characteristics of steam channeling during steam flooding after different types of integral cyclic steam stimulation were very distinct. The reservoir would have different temperature fields and different flow resistance because of different integral cyclic steam stimulations. The formation fluid would bypass the place with large flow resistance (low-temperature zone), forming secondary heterogeneity and affecting the displacement effect and thus the development effect. The recovery percent of a heavy oil reservoir developed by steam flooding was low, and it would bring some potential safety risks and problems with environmental protection. The experimental results provide theoretical support for further study of the mechanism of steam flooding.

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Experimental and numerical study of solvent optimization during horizontal-well solvent-enhanced steam flooding in thin heavy-oil reservoirs

Cited by 29 publications

References 29 publications

Spherical Poly(vinyl imidazole) Brushes Loading Nickel Cations as Nanocatalysts for Aquathermolysis of Heavy Crude Oil

Spherical Poly(vinyl imidazole) Brushes Loading Nickel Cations as Nanocatalysts for Aquathermolysis of Heavy Crude Oil

Pattern Recognition for Steam Flooding Field Applications Based on Hierarchical Clustering and Principal Component Analysis

Experimental Study and Thoughts on Safety and Environmental Protection of Steam Flooding of Horizontal Wells in a Heavy Oil Reservoir

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