화학공학소재연구정보센터
Energy & Fuels, Vol.31, No.1, 418-428, 2017
Combined Cyclic Solvent Injection and Waterflooding in the Post Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand Reservoirs
In this paper, cyclic solvent injection (CSI) and waterflooding (WF) were combined and studied to maximize their technical synergy and optimize the enhanced heavy oil recovery (EHOR) in the post-cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS) reservoirs. The original heavy oil sample was collected from the Colony formation in western Canada. The PVT data and viscosities of CH4/CO2/C3H8-saturated heavy oil were measured at different equilibrium pressures and T-res = 21 degrees C. A total of eight sandpacked laboratory tests were conducted to study and compare four different EHOR processes after the primary production: CSI, CSI + WF, simultaneous CSI + WF, and WE + CSI. In the last three processes, WF was applied after, simultaneously with, and prior to the CSI production, respectively. Three different pressure drawdown rates (6.8, 12.5, and 25.0 kPa/min) and two different solvents (CO, and C3H8) were used to determine their specific effects on CSI + WE. The experimental results showed that CSI + WE had the highest heavy oil recovery factor (RE) of 30.1% in comparison with 28.9, 25.9, and 24.3% for WF + CSI, simultaneous CSI + WF, and CSI, respectively, when CO, was used in CSI. The intermediate pressure drawdown rate of 12.5 kPa/min resulted in the highest heavy oil RF in CO2-CSI + WF. In addition, C3H8 was found to be a more effective extracting solvent than CO2 due to its more favorable PVT properties and larger heavy oil viscosity reduction.