Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology
Volume 50,
Number 6,
June 2011,
pp. 61-67
Summary
Thermal-recovery methods (e.g., steam injection) are commonly used to
recover bitumen from oil sands. The injected steam contacts the oil sand and
forms an interface. The steam changes to water, transferring its heat to
bitumen across this interface. The heated bitumen will have a lower viscosity,
which allows for oil to be mobilized and recovered from the reservoir.
Studies that explain hot-water/bitumen interfaces are crucial for
understanding thermal-recovery methods. The strength and energy of
hot-water/bitumen interfaces are expected to play important roles in the
recovery of bitumen from oil sands. However, measurements on hot-water/bitumen
interfaces are scarce in the literature. A relevant measurement would be the
contact angle and interfacial tension (IFT) of the water/bitumen interfaces at
different temperatures. In this paper, it has been attempted to reveal and
present the results of several water/bitumen contact-angle and IFT
measurements. The measurements cover a temperature range from ambient to 100°C
for a given pressure.
The experiments are run in X-ray transparent cells, and images are taken
using a microcomputed-tomography (microCT) scanner. The results of contact
angle and the IFTs of the hot-water/bitumen interface are produced by using the
axisymmetric drop shape-analysis (ADSA) method.
© 2011. Society of Petroleum Engineers
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History
- Original manuscript received:
1 April 2009
- Meeting paper published:
17 June 2009
- Revised manuscript received:
8 March 2011
- Manuscript approved:
23 March 2011
- Published online:
31 May 2011
- Version of record:
9 June 2011
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