Investigation of Stability and Rheology of Produced Heavy-Oil Emulsions Formed due to Steam Injection

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Petroleum Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Safat, Kuwait

Abstract

Water in oil emulsion is consider one of the major challenges encountered during production of heavy oil or when applying enhanced oil recovery techniques whether thermal or chemical. In this study stability and rheological properties of hot and cold produced heavy oil emulsions formed due to steam injection processes in Kuwaiti reservoirs were investigated thoroughly over a wide range of operation conditions. The effects of temperature, shear rates, and water cuts on the physical and chemical behaviors of the heavy oil emulsions were examined experimentally in detail. The results showed that cold-produced heavy oil emulsion (CP-HO) is more stable than hot produced heavy oil emulsions (HP-HO) because of its high salinity concentrations and low resin/asphaltene (R/A) ratios, and low PH value. Moreover, a new emulsion viscosity correlation was developed using the experimental data. The proposed model was validated against existed models. The results showed that the developed correlation i more applicable than the existed one in predicting the viscosity of heavy oil emulsions with a percentage of deviation almost less than 5 %.

Keywords

References

[1] Ersoy G, Yu M, Sarica C. Modeling of inversion point for heavy oil-water emulsion systems. SPE Projects, Facilities & Construction. 2009 Jun 1;4(02):47-52.
[2] Alboudwarej H, Muhammad M, Shahraki AK, Dubey S, Vreenegoor L, Saleh JM. Rheology of heavy-oil emulsions. SPE Production & Operations. 2007 Aug 1;22(03):285-93.
[3] CHEN YX, Chen J, Pan CS, LI G, XIAO XQ. Influence of asphaltenes and resins on the stability of heavy crude emulsions. Applied Chemical Industry. 2009;2.
[4] Nour AH, Yunus RM, Anwaruddin H. Water-in-crude oil emulsions: its stabilization and demulsification. JApSc. 2007 Dec;7(22):3512-7.
[5] Pilehvari, A.; Saadevandi, B.; Halvaci, M. Oil/Water emulsions for pipeline transport of viscous crude oils. Proceeding of SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, October 2-5.
[6] Wang XB, Han HS. An Experimental Study of Reducing Phase Inversion Point of Watercut Crude Oil Using Flow Improver. Oilfield Chemistry. 2008;25(2):186-8.
[7] Ioannou K, Nydal OJ, Angeli P. Phase inversion in dispersed liquid–liquid flows. Experimental thermal and fluid science. 2005 Mar 1;29(3):331-9.
[8] Duan L, Jing J, Wang J, Huang X, Qin X, Qiu Y. Study on Phase Inversion Characteristics of Heavy Oil Emulsions. InThe Twentieth International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference 2010 Jan 1. International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.
[9] Maneeintr K, Sasaki K, Sugai Y. Investigation of the effects of parameters on viscosities and correlation of heavy oil and stability of its emulsion. Journal of the Japan Institute of Energy. 2013;92(9):900-4.
[10] Moradi M, Alvarado V, Huzurbazar S. Effect of salinity on water-in-crude oil emulsion: evaluation through drop-size distribution proxy. Energy & fuels. 2011 Jan 20;25(1):260-8.
[11] Alves DR, Carneiro JS, Oliveira IF, Façanha Jr F, Santos AF, Dariva C, Franceschi E, Fortuny M.Influence of the salinity on the interfacial properties of a Brazilian crude oil–brine systems. Fuel. 2014 Feb 15;118:21-6.
[12] Hemmingsen PV, Silset A, Hannisdal A, Sjöblom J. Emulsions of heavy crude oils. I: Influence of viscosity, temperature, and dilution. Journal of dispersion science and technology. 2005 Sep 1;26(5):615-27.
[13] Gafonova OV, Yarranton HW. The stabilization of water-in-hydrocarbon emulsions by asphaltenes and resins. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 2001 Sep 15;241(2):469-78.
[14] Al-Sahhaf T, Elsharkawy A, Fahim M. Stability of water-in-crude oil emulsions: effect of oil aromaticity, resins to asphaltene ratio, and pH of water. Petroleum Science and Technology. 2008 Nov 3;26(17):2009-22.
[15] Liu, RW, Chen, XL and Zhou, N. Study on Viscosity-reducing Techniques and Mechanisms for Viscous Crude Oils. Advances in Fine Petrochemicals, Vol 9, No 4, pp 20-25.
[16] Al-Yaari M, Hussein IA, Al-Sarkhi A, Abbad M, Chang F. Effect of water salinity on surfactant-stabilized water–oil emulsions flow characteristics. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science. 2015 Jun 1;64:54-61.
[17] Zaki N, Schoriing PC, Rahimian I. Effect of asphaltene and resins on the stability of water-in-waxy oil emulsions. Petroleum science and technology. 2000 Aug 1;18(7-8):945-63.
[18] Einestein, A. Eine neue bestimmung der molecule dimensionen. Ann. Phys. 19, 289 -306
[19] Eilers VH. The viscosity of emulsions of highly viscous substances as a function of concentration. Colloid Journal. 1941 Dec 1; 97 (3): 313-21.
[20] Mooney, M.J. The viscosity of a concentrated suspension of spherical particles. Journal of Colloid Science, Vol. 6. No.2, pp.162-170.
[21] Pal R, Rhodes E. Viscosity/concentration relationships for emulsions. Journal of Rheology. 1989 Oct;33(7):1021-45.
[22] Johnsen EE, Rønningsen HP. Viscosity of ‘live’water-in-crude-oil emulsions: experimental work and validation of correlations. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 2003 May 1;38(1-2):23-36.
 
Journal of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Volume 54, Issue 2
December 2020
Pages 205-222

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 09 September 2019
  • Accept Date: 05 October 2020

Share

How to cite

Statistics