• Clean Technology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.54-59
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• 2009

In this study, the separation of water/bitumen emulsion was investigated by chemical demulsification method. Motor oils (GS Caltex Deluxe Gold V 7.5W/30, Hyundai gear oil 85W/140) and asphalt (AP-5, KS M 2201, Dongnam Petrochemical MFG. Co.) were used as model oils in the preliminary experiments to effectively remove water from water/bitumen emulsion. The bitumen extracted from Canadian oilsands was used in this study. The water/oil emulsion was not separated without demulsifiers, and Hyundai motor oil showed higher efficiency of water separation at a low concentration of demulsifier compared with that for GS Caltex motor oil. However, as the concentration increased, the efficiency did not rapidly increase compared with that of GS Caltex motor oil. It was highly speculated that the water phase of Hyundai motor oil was not dispersed well compared with that of GS Caltex motor oil because the viscosity of Hyundai motor oil was much higher than that of GS Caltex motor oil. The demulsifier of higher HLB (hydrophilic - lipophilic balance) value had high separation efficiencies in water/oil emulsion. The TWEEN 20 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate solution) showed better separation efficiency than other demulsifiers.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.12-21
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• 2022

Steam assisted gravity drainage(SAGD) is a process that drills well in the underground oil sands layer, injects hightemperature steam, lowers the viscosity of buried bitumen, and recovers it to the ground. Recently, direct contact steam generator(DCSG) is being developed to maximize steam efficiency for SAGD process. The DCSG requires high technology to achieve pressurized combustion and steam generation in accordance with underground pressurized conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a combustion technology that can control the heat load and exhaust gas composition. In this study, process analysis of high-pressurized DCSG was conducted to apply oxygen enrichment technology in which nitrogen of the air was partially removed for increasing steam production and reducing fuel consumption. As the process analysis conditions, methane as the fuel and normal air or oxygen enriched air as the oxidizing agent were applied to high-pressurized DCSG process model. A simple combustion reaction program was used to calculate the property variations for combustion temperature, steam ratio and residual heat in exhaust gas. As a major results, the steam production efficiency of DCSG using the pure oxygen was about 6% higher than that of the normal air due to the reducing nitrogen in the air. The results of this study will be used as operating data to test the demonstration device.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.140-147
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• 2013

In this study, chemical demulsification and electrical treatment methods were investigated for improving the efficiency of water separation from a water/bitumen emulsion. Two types of motor oils (GS Caltex, Deluxe Gold V 7.5 W/30 and, Hyundai gear oil 85 W/140) were used as model oils in basic experiments to investigate the effects of a demulsifier on water/oil emulsion separation. Chemical demulsifiers showing good water separation performance were then used in asphalt emulsion and bitumen emulsion separation trials. Maleic anhydride and e-caprolactam were shown to be good oil soluble demulsifiers and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate and acrylic acid were effective as water soluble demulsifiers. Based on the results obtained in basic experiments, these four demulsifiers were used in further asphalt emulsion experiments. The oil soluble demulsifiers showed higher water separation efficiencies than the water soluble demulsifiers. To investigate the water separation efficiency using a combined chemical and electrical treatment method, the water/bitumen emulsion was separated with the electrical oil treatment apparatus after a chemical demulsifier had been added to it.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09a
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• pp.790-799
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• 2010

The Upper Devonian Grossmont Formation in Alberta, Canada reserves an estimated 50 billion cubic meters of bitumen and possess about 1/6 of the total bitumen resources in northern Alberta. However, unlike the overlying Athabasca oil sands, non conventional bitumen resources has not been developed as yet. The carbonate rocks of Grosmont Formation have been subject to various stages of diagenesis, including dolomatization and karstification with a strong effect on the distribution of porosity and permeability, which resulted in highly heterogeneous reservoirs. An extensive fracture logging and mapping was performed on total of six boreholes located in the study area to explore the characteristics of fracture geometry system and the subsurface structures of carbonates reservoir that holds bitumen. Fractal dimension was used as a measure of the statistical homogeneity of the fractured rock masses. The applicability of random Cantor dust, Dc, as a fractal parameter was examined systematically. The statistical homogeneity of fractured carbonates rock masses was investigated in the study area. The structural domains of the rock masses were delineated depthwise according to estimated Dc. The major fracture orientation was dominated by horizontal beddings having dip of $0-20^{\circ}$. Also, fractures having high dip angles existed with relatively low frequency. Three dimensional fracture network modeling for each structural domain has been performed based on fracture orientation and intensity, and some representative conceptual models for carbonates reservoir in the study area has been proposed. The developed subsurface conceptual models will be used to capture the geomechanical characteristics of the carbonates reservoir.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.80-87
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• 2010

This study was conducted to develop a reservoir modelling workflow to reproduce the heterogeneous distribution of effective permeability that impacts on the performance of SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage), the in-situ bitumen recovery technique in the Athabasca Oil Sands. Lithologic facies distribution is the main cause of the heterogeneity in bitumen reservoirs in the study area. The target formation consists of sand with mudstone facies in a fluvial-to-estuary channel system, where the mudstone interrupts fluid flow and reduces effective permeability. In this study, the lithologic facies is classified into three classes having different characteristics of effective permeability, depending on the shapes of mudstones. The reservoir modelling workflow of this study consists of two main modules; facies modelling and permeability modelling. The facies modelling provides an identification of the three lithologic facies, using a stochastic approach, which mainly control the effective permeability. The permeability modelling populates mudstone volume fraction first, then transforms it into effective permeability. A series of flow simulations applied to mini-models of the lithologic facies obtains the transformation functions of the mudstone volume fraction into the effective permeability. Seismic data contribute to the facies modelling via providing prior probability of facies, which is incorporated in the facies models by geostatistical techniques. In particular, this study employs a probabilistic neural network utilising multiple seismic attributes in facies prediction that improves the prior probability of facies. The result of using the improved prior probability in facies modelling is compared to the conventional method using a single seismic attribute to demonstrate the improvement in the facies discrimination. Using P-wave velocity in combination with density in the multiple seismic attributes is the essence of the improved facies discrimination. This paper also discusses sand matrix porosity that makes P-wave velocity differ between the different facies in the study area, where the sand matrix porosity is uniquely evaluated using log-derived porosity, P-wave velocity and photographically-predicted mudstone volume.