Session: 11-08-01 Advances in Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS)

Paper Number: 126883

126883 - Quantification of Phase Behaviour and Physical Properties of Alkane Solvent(s)/co2/ Water/heavy Oil Systems Under Reservoir Conditions 

The hybrid steam-solvent injection has been considered as a promising technique for enhancing heavy oil/bitumen recovery, while its main mechanisms include the heat transferred and dissolution of solvents (e.g., CH₄, C₂H₆, C₃H₈, C₄H₁₀, CO₂, N₂, and DME) into heavy oil/bitumen to swell it and reduce its viscosity which is closely related to the phase behaviour and physical properties of the solvents-water-heavy oil/bitumen systems. In the past 17 years, our research group has been developing experimental and theoretical techniques to accurately quantify phase behaviour and physical properties of solvents-water-heavy oil/bitumen systems at high pressures and elevated temperatures, while preferential contributions of individual components in a gas mixture for the aforementioned systems have been accurately determined with and without coupling temperature effect and concentration-dependence.

 

To allow the seamless integration with the existing reservoir simulators, the traditional cubic equations of state (EOSs), i.e., SRK EOS and PR EOS, have been modified and improved to accurately quantify the phase behaviour and physical properties of the aforementioned systems under reservoir conditions. Firstly, a large database has been built to develop the corresponding alpha functions by respectively minimizing the deviation between the measured and calculated vapour pressures for water as well as nonhydrocarbon and hydrocarbon compounds available from the public domain. Such obtained alpha functions together with four volume translation strategies have been comparatively evaluated with different heavy oil saturated with the aforementioned solvents, showing excellent performance by treating heavy oil/bitumen as one pseudocomponent (PC) or multiple PCs. Also, such improved EOSs have been further employed to reproduce the experimentally measured multiphase boundaries (or pseudo bubblepoint pressures), density, viscosity, (mutual) solubility, interfacial tension, and preferential mass transfer for the aforementioned mixtures under reservoir conditions. Due to the existence of water, isenthalpic flash leads to more accurately quantification of multiphase boundaries and physical properties for the hybrid solvent-thermal processes. Also, each component of a binary or ternary gas mixture diffuse preferentially into heavy oil at high pressures and elevated temperatures in the absence and presence of porous media, while each of them is found to exsolve differently from gas-saturated heavy oil under nonequilibrium conditions.

Presenting Author: Daoyong (Tony) Yang University of Regina

Presenting Author Biography: Daoyong Tony Yang is a professor of Energy Systems Engineering program in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Regina. Previously, he worked as a petroleum engineer for 3 years in the PetroChina TuHa Oilfield Company with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and as a reservoir engineer for 4 years in the Software Development and Information Centre of Petroleum Engineering, CNPC. Also, he worked as a senior visiting research scientist for one year with the Imperial Oil Resources Limited. Yang’s major research areas include reservoir description and dynamics, phase behaviour, mass and heat transfer, transient pressure/rate analysis, assisted history matching, formation evaluation, production optimization, CO2 EOR and storage, reservoir geomechanics, artificial-lift methods, transport phenomena, interfacial interactions in EOR processes, heavy-oil recovery, and unconventional resources exploitation. He has authored or coauthored 201 refereed-journal articles and 127 conference papers and holds three patents. Yang holds BSc and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from the China University of Petroleum and a PhD degree in petroleum systems engineering from the University of Regina. He is the recipient of the 2011 SPE Canada Region Regional Formation Evaluation Award, 2013 SPE Canada Region Regional Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award, 2018 SPE Canada Region Regional Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, and 2022 Outstanding Technical Reviewer Award (SPE Journal). He was an associate editor for the Journal of Energy Resources Technology (2015-2021). Yang is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the American Chemical Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts, and is a registered professional engineer with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Authors:

Daoyong (Tony) Yang University of Regina
Desheng Huang University of Regina
Xiaomeng Dong University of Regina
Yunlong Li University of Regina
Wenyu Zhao University of Regina
Bingge Hu University of Regina
Yee-Chung Jin University of Regina