Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.5
3.2
Journals
Energies
Special Issues
Thermal and Thermal-Solvent Methods for Oil Recovery
energies-logo
Submit to Energies Review for Energies Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Thermal and Thermal-Solvent Methods for Oil Recovery

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H2: Geothermal".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2021) | Viewed by 5000

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ian D. Gates

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Interests: reservoir engineering; heavy oil; interfacial science; unconventional resources

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will focus on thermal and thermal solvent recovery processes for extracting heavy oil and bitumen, including steam-based (e.g., CSS and SAGD), thermal solvent (e.g., ES-SAGD, SA-SAGD), warm solvent-rich (e.g., NSolv), and air injection (e.g., THAI, CAGD) recovery methods. Given the global demand for heavy oil feedstocks and the cost and emission intensities of the current recovery processes, there is a need for a deeper understanding of the current methods to enable improvement as well as development of new technologies that will significantly lower cost and emission intensities. We invite submissions to this Special Issue, which will focus on new fundamental and applied contributions in the area of thermal and thermal solvent recovery methods for heavy oil recovery. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: cyclic steam stimulation (CSS), steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), solvent-aided CSS and SAGD, solvent-rich recovery methods, air injection methods, recovery process optimization, new recovery process development, well completion designs, operating strategy, impact of geological heterogeneity on recovery, environmental impacts of thermal and thermal solvent methods, innovation in heavy oil recovery methods, field case studies, and energy policies associated with thermal and thermal solvent methods.

Prof. Dr. Ian D. Gates
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • heavy oil and bitumen
  • oil sands
  • thermal recovery methods
  • thermal solvent recovery methods
  • air injection methods
  • solvent recovery methods

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 29529 KiB  
Article
Identifying Reservoir Features via iSOR Response Behaviour
by Jingyi Wang and Ian Gates
Energies 2021, 14(2), 427; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en14020427 - 14 Jan 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1524
Abstract
To extract viscous bitumen from oil sands reservoirs, steam is injected into the formation to lower the bitumen’s viscosity enabling sufficient mobility for its production to the surface. Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is the preferred process for Athabasca oil sands reservoirs but its [...] Read more.
To extract viscous bitumen from oil sands reservoirs, steam is injected into the formation to lower the bitumen’s viscosity enabling sufficient mobility for its production to the surface. Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is the preferred process for Athabasca oil sands reservoirs but its performance suffers in heterogeneous reservoirs leading to an elevated steam-to-oil ratio (SOR) above that which would be observed in a clean oil sands reservoir. This implies that the SOR could be used as a signature to understand the nature of heterogeneities or other features in reservoirs. In the research reported here, the use of the SOR as a signal to provide information on the heterogeneity of the reservoir is explored. The analysis conducted on prototypical reservoirs reveals that the instantaneous SOR (iSOR) can be used to identify reservoir features. The results show that the iSOR profile exhibits specific signatures that can be used to identify when the steam chamber reaches the top of the formation, a lean zone, a top gas zone, and shale layers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal and Thermal-Solvent Methods for Oil Recovery)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 3045 KiB  
Article
Improvement of Steam Injection Processes Through Nanotechnology: An Approach through in Situ Upgrading and Foam Injection
by Oscar E. Medina, Yira Hurtado, Cristina Caro-Velez, Farid B. Cortés, Masoud Riazi, Sergio H. Lopera and Camilo A. Franco
Energies 2019, 12(24), 4633; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en12244633 - 06 Dec 2019
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2952
Abstract
This study aims to evaluate a high-performance nanocatalyst for upgrading of extra-heavy crude oil recovery and at the same time evaluate the capacity of foams generated with a nanofluid to improve the sweeping efficiency through a continuous steam injection process at reservoir conditions. [...] Read more.
This study aims to evaluate a high-performance nanocatalyst for upgrading of extra-heavy crude oil recovery and at the same time evaluate the capacity of foams generated with a nanofluid to improve the sweeping efficiency through a continuous steam injection process at reservoir conditions. CeO2±δ nanoparticles functionalized with mass fractions of 0.89% and 1.1% of NiO and PdO, respectively, were employed to assist the technology and achieve the oil upgrading. In addition, silica nanoparticles grafted with a mass fraction of 12% polyethylene glycol were used as an additive to improve the stability of an alpha-olefin sulphonate-based foam. The nanofluid formulation for the in situ upgrading process was carried out through thermogravimetric analysis and measurements of zeta potential during eight days to find the best concentration of nanoparticles and surfactant, respectively. The displacement test was carried out in different stages, including, (i) basic characterization, (ii) steam injection in the absence of nanofluids, (iii) steam injection after soaking with nanofluid for in situ upgrading, (iv) N2 injection, and (v) steam injection after foaming nanofluid. Increase in the oil recovery of 8.8%, 3%, and 5.5% are obtained for the technology assisted by the nanocatalyst-based nanofluid, after the nitrogen injection, and subsequent to the thermal foam injection, respectively. Analytical methods showed that the oil viscosity was reduced 79%, 77%, and 31%, in each case. Regarding the asphaltene content, with the presence of the nanocatalyst, it decreased from 28.7% up to 12.9%. Also, the American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity values increased by up to 47%. It was observed that the crude oil produced after the foam injection was of higher quality than the crude oil without treatment, indicating that the thermal foam leads to a better swept of the porous medium containing upgraded oil. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal and Thermal-Solvent Methods for Oil Recovery)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop