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ENCH 665 Session 2, Introduction
ENCH 665 Session 2, Introduction
ENCH 665 Session 2, Introduction
Basic definitions
— Classification of oils
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering — Fundamental reservoir engineering
— Constituents of oil
WASTEWATER ISSUES FOR THE
— Oil production and recovery
OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
— Unconventional oil
ENCH 665 – ENEN 665 — Surface mining
Session 2: Introduction — Water in production of heavy oil and bitumen
Nasser Sallamie, Ph.D., P. Eng. — Athabasca River
Fall 2022
— Upgrading
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Definitions Resources vs. Reserves
Conventional Oil Original resources
— Produced by primary or secondary recovery — Discovered vs. undiscovered resources
— Flow under reservoir pressure, physical lift, water — Recoverable vs. unrecoverable
flooding, and pressure from water or natural gas Ultimate reserves (discovered recoverable
API Classification resources), or cumulative production plus future
141.5 production ‐ reserves
𝐴𝑃𝐼 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 131.5
𝑆𝐺
— Light crude oil: oAPI > 31.1 ( < 870 kg/m3)
Contingent resources (technically recoverable, not
— Medium oil: 31.1 > oAPI > 23.3 (870 < < 920 kg/m3)
economic)
— Heavy oil: oAPI < 23.3 ( ~ 920 to 1000 kg/m3) Unrecoverable resources (neither technically
— Extra heavy oil: oAPI < 10 ( > 1000 kg/m3) recoverable, nor economic)
— For oil API over 10, it will be lighter than water
3 4
Unconventional Oils Asphaltene
Bitumen Insoluble in n‐pentane or n‐heptane and soluble in
— Heavier than water, poorly flowing, more viscous than toluene
molasses
Cause problems in oil production, transportation,
Extra heavy oil: oAPI < 10
and processing
— Dense non‐aqueous phase liquid in ambient conditions
— Challenges in production, transportation, and refining Problems unrelated to the amount of asphaltene,
Asphaltene but its stability that depends on:
— n‐pentane or n‐heptane insoluble, toluene soluble — Properties of the asphaltene fraction
Maltene: fraction of bitumen alkane soluble — Solubility of asphaltenes in the rest of the oil
Oil shale: sedimentary bituminous rock (mined) Asphaltenes destabilization by mixing with another
Tar sands (oil sands) crude oil during transportation or by other steps in
Tight oil and gas oil processing
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Asphaltene Structure n‐Heptane Asphaltene
Complex hydrocarbons having the following
components
— Condensed aromatic hydrocarbons with side chains up
to C30
— Hetero‐aromatic compounds with sulfur present in
(benzothiophene rings) and nitrogen (pyrrole and
pyridine rings)
— Bi‐ or polyfunctional molecules with nitrogen as (amines
and amides) and oxygen (ketones, phenols, and
carboxylic acids)
— Metals nickel and vanadium complexed with pyrrole
nitrogen atoms in porphyrin ring structures
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Archipelago Model Precondensed Model
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Maltene Heavy Oil Resources
Fraction of asphalt soluble in n‐alkane solvent According to the International Energy Agency
(pentane or heptane): (IEA), the estimated volumes of heavy oil
— Smaller molecular weight versions of asphaltenes called worldwide are about 6 trillion barrels:
"resins"
— 2.5 trillion barrels in Canada
— Aromatic hydrocarbons with or without O, N and S
— 1.5 trillion barrels in Venezuela
— Straight chained or cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbons
(olefins) — 1 trillion barrels in Russia and
— Cyclic saturated hydrocarbons known as naphthenes — 100 to 180 billion barrels are in the USA
(also called "saturates")
— Straight or branch chain saturated hydrocarbons (also
"saturates")
— Naphthene‐aromatics
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Extra‐Heavy Oil Oil Shale
Sedimentary rock containing solid
bituminous materials (called kerogen)
Released as petroleum‐like liquids
when rock heated in the chemical
process of pyrolysis
Can be mined and processed to
generate oil similar to oil pumped
from conventional oil wells;
More complex and expensive oil
extraction than conventional oil
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Oil Sands (Tar Sands) Oil Sands Resources
An oil field exposed at the
surface
Only a nearly solid tar is left
It can be converted to liquid
oil by mining, heating and
separation
Water is a key component
in separation of oil
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Mining‐Dragline Excavator Cable Loading Shovel
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Mining Trucks Mining Trucks
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Surface Mining Bitumen Production
Started by Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor) Original extraction developed by Dr. Karl Clark in
1920’s, Clark Hot Water Extraction (CHWE) process
in 1967 from Athabasca bitumen by extraction — Surface Mining
— High bitumen content and little overburden making — Transportation
mining and extraction economic — Size Reduction (Crushing)
— Overburden consists of water‐laden muskeg (peat bog) — Hot Water (and chemical) Addition (50 – 80oC)
Formation of slurry and transportation to primary separation
over top of clay and barren sand
— Froth Flotation
— Oil sands themselves are typically 40 to 60 metres 60% bitumen, 30% water and 10% solids by weight
deep, sitting on top of flat limestone rock — Cleaning
— Transportation
Draglines and bucket‐wheel excavator combined
Over 90% of ore bitumen content can be recovered
with conveyor belts vs. shovel‐and truck operation
Less than 2 tons of oil sands to produce 1 bbl oil
— Power shovels (100 or more tons) and dump trucks (400 Separated solids and sands returned to mine
tons) (reclamation)
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Water in HO Production Water in HO Production (Cont’d)
Consolidated Tailings (Cont’d) MFT Drying (RTO)
CT technology used for more than 10 years: yet Suncor research for MFT Drying or RTO (Tailings
certain challenges associated with the process Reduction Operations) started in 2003; approved
— Production of CT heavily tied to the extraction process;
regulatory in 2010
required DT come directly from the extraction process. Formed MFT in tailings ponds being dredged out to
During plant maintenance or after mine life , no tailings be use in the process
treatment can occur A polymer flocculent added to the MFT and
— A precise recipe of MFT, DT and gypsum is required to MFT/flocculent mixture then deposited in thin
make on‐spec CT layers with shallow slopes
— CT must be deposited into a CT layer within the tailings — Deposited layers generally 10‐15cm thick
pond, otherwise the material will segregate in the pond In a few weeks, the material dries and product that
and once again form MFT can be reclaimed in place or moved for final
reclamation
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MFT Drying (Cont’d) Tailing Ponds Reclamation
Courtesy of M. Mamer, Suncor Energy 29 30
Suncor Pond One Oil Sands Mining Operation
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Upgrading Athabasca River
Conversion of heavier HC’s into invaluable lighter Runs 1,231 km from the Athabasca Glacier in west‐
ones central Alberta to Lake Athabasca in NE Alberta
— Atmospheric Distillation: Separates light ends and
Ave. annual flow just downstream of Fort McMurray
diluent solvents (diluent recycled to mixing) about 633 m3/s; highest daily average 1,200 m3/s
— Vacuum Distillation
In 2005, 360 million m3 per year (11.4 m3/s) allocated to
Athabasca River flow for oil sands producers was roughly
Primary Upgrading 1.8% of the river’s annual flow
— Thermal Craking (Coker) Concerns for winter low flows (e.g., 75 m3/s, December
— Catalytic Cracking (Hydrocracking) 2001)
Upgrading As of 2006, the real withdrawal was about half of the
allocated amount
— Hydrotreating: SO2 and NOx removal at the expense of
River’s Instream Flow Needs (IFN)
H2S & NH3 formed to improve the quality of products
— A threshold for minimum amount of water flow in m3/s to
obtained, such as ultra low sulfur diesel (Clean Air Act) maintain the health of river’s ecosystem, or the need covering
all needs, such as drinking water, aquatic habitat, recreation,
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navigation, and so on 34
Inorganic Water Chemistry Organic Water Chemistry
MLSB, Mildred Lake Settling Basin; TPW, tailings pond water; CT, consolidated tailings; DOC, dissolved organic carbon; BOD, biochemical oxygen demand; COD, chemical oxygen
TDS, total dissolved solids; COND, conductivity demand; OG, oil and grease; NA, naphthenic acids; PAH, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon;
BTEX, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene; MLSB, Mildred Lake Settling Basin
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Treatment Objective Reservoir Definitions
Aquifer
— Wet, or typically water‐saturated layer of permeable rock
or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand or silt) which can
produce water
— Aquifer may be below the hydrocarbons in the oil
reservoir, exerting pressure to the reservoir fluids
— Minor compressibility of water may turn into huge volume
increase for a large aquifer with hydrocarbons depletion
and reduction in pressure in the reservoir
— Water expansion may push up on the hydrocarbons and
TPW, tailings pond water; COND, conductivity; DO, dissolved oxygen; TDS, total maintain pressure
dissolved solids; TSS, total suspended solids; MLSB, Mildred Lake Settling Basin; ASME,
American Society of Mechanical Engineers; OTSG, once through steam generator
37 38
Reservoir Definitions (Cont’d) Reservoir Definitions (Cont’d)
Matrix Permeability
— Porous environment (rock) in which oil is embedded — Ability of a rock to transmit fluids (darcies or millidarcies)
— Permeable formations (like sandstones) tend to have many
Porosity (Void Fraction) large, well‐connected pores.
— A measure of the void (empty) spaces in the rock — Impermeable formations (such as shales and siltstones)
— A fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, tend to be finer grained or of a mixed grain size, with
between 0–1, or as a percentage between 0‐100%. smaller, fewer, or less interconnected pores.
— A measure of the oil storage in the rock Darcy Law
𝑉
∅
𝑉
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Darcy Law Permeability
Absolute Permeability
𝑘𝐴 𝑃 𝑃 — measurement of permeability in presence of a single fluid, or phase
𝑄 Effective Permeability
𝜇 𝐿
— ability to preferentially flow or transmit a particular fluid through a
Q: flow rate (m3/s) rock in presence of other immiscible fluids (gas in a gas‐water
P: pressure (Pa) reservoir).
— Dependent on relative saturations of fluids and nature of reservoir
L: length (m) affect
A: Cross section (m2) Relative Permeability
— Ratio of effective permeability of a particular fluid at a particular
m: viscosity (Pa.s) saturation to absolute permeability of that fluid at total saturation
1: flow upstream — For a single fluid present in a rock, unity relative permeability
— Calculation of relative permeability allows for comparison of the
2: flow downstream different abilities of fluids to flow in the presence of each other, since
k: permeability (m2), 1 darcy ~ 9.87 x 10‐13 m2 the presence of more than one fluid generally inhibits flow
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Other Terms Oil Recovery
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Different Recovery Stages Oil Recovery Technologies
Water Flooding
Chemical Flooding
— ASP (Alkaline Surfactant
Polymer)
Gas Flooding
— CO2
— N2
— Flue gas
— Enriched natural gas
— Miscible vs. immiscible
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Gas Flooding
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