Density and Viscosity of Light and Heavy Phases from Mixtures of Bitumen and Solvent

Solvent-assisted heavy oil recovery methods, such as Solvent Assisted – Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SA-SAGD), are an alternative to traditional thermal techniques that can reduce their water and energy requirements. In these processes, condensed water and a mixture of bitumen and solvent drain to the producer well. The mixture of bitumen and solvent can separate into a bitumenrich (heavy) liquid phase and a solvent-rich (light) liquid phase. Accurate characterization of the physical properties of these phases is essential for modeling and optimizing the process. However, there are limited experimental data available for the density and viscosity of each individual phase, particularly the heavy phase, at the high-pressure and high-temperature conditions typical of SASAGD processes. This thesis addresses the gap in the heavy phase property data. It focuses on the measurement and analysis of density and viscosity of the two liquid phases formed in binary mixtures of bitumen with n-pentane and n-butane at conditions relevant to SA-SAGD. Experimental procedures were developed to reproducibly generate and isolate the light and heavy phases. Density measurements were performed with an Anton Paar DMA HPM vibrating U-tube density meter, and viscosity was measured using an in-house capillary viscometer. A predictive methodology to determine the light phase density and viscosity based on solvent and maltene properties was used to validate the measured light phase densities from mixtures of bitumen and n-pentane for which maltene properties were available. The two liquid phases were generated and isolated at 125°C and 5 MPa for one mixture of 40 wt% bitumen and 60 wt% n-pentane and two mixtures of approximately 49 wt% bitumen and 51 wt% n-butane. The yield (bitumen in heavy phase / bitumen in feed), phase compositions, and light phase densities were measured and were consistent with the available literature data. Challenges in measuring heavy phase properties related to the loss of solvent or lighter components, as well as compositional changes during fluid transfer and density and viscosity measurements, were addressed. The heavy phase properties were obtained for the mixtures with n-butane. The contribution of this thesis is a validated method to measure heavy phase properties for mixtures of bitumen and solvent.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MSc)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering – Chemical & Petroleum

Grantor

Schulich School of Engineering

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Tellez Duran, Freider Nicolas

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Yarranton, Harvey

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ponnurangam, Sathish
• Hassanzadeh, Hassan

Statement dc:rights

• Unless otherwise indicated, this material is protected by copyright and has been made available with authorization from the copyright owner. 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.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/50089

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/122496