High Temperature and High Pressure Determination of the Viscosity and Density of Bitumen as well as the Mutual Solubility of a Bitumen and Water Mixture

97% of Canadian oil reserves are oil sands, with 80% in undeveloped in-situ reservoirs. Knowledge of the density, viscosity and mutual solubility of bitumen and bitumen/water mixtures greatly improves the exploitation of these reservoirs that require thermal recovery techniques. Determining these parameters is challenging due to the high temperatures and pressures of these reservoirs. This work utilizes a variable-volume bellows cell with a custom viscometer to measure density and viscosity for a Christina Lake bitumen and Christina Lake bitumen/water mixtures at 13.8 MPa (2000 psig) up to 300⁰C. Mutual solubility and composition is determined from samples using Karl Fischer titration and Dean Stark distillation. Results indicate that density and viscosity decrease significantly with increasing temperature up to 300⁰C. Mutual solubility results were inconclusive due to apparatus malfunctions. Thermal cracking at 300⁰C was evidenced by a change in the oil density and viscosity at lower temperatures and was more significant in the presence of water.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MSc)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering – Chemical & Petroleum

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Schulich School of Engineering

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Sardinha, Christopher

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Mehta, Sudarshan
• Moore, Robert

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Mehta, Sudarshan
• Moore, Robert
• Aguilera, Roberto
• Hassanzadeh, Hassan

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/39740

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/114620