Experimental and Numerical Studies of Supercritical Water Flooding for Offshore Heavy Oil Recovery
Supercritical water (SCW) is a novel thermal agent that has been recently utilized for the production of heavy oil. However, a lack of knowledge about its recovery mechanisms limits the application of SCW. In this study, pyrolysis and sandpack flooding experiments were performed to investigate the m...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2022-01-01
|
| Series: | Geofluids |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/5362235 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832565462311895040 |
|---|---|
| author | Yanyu Zhang Xiaoyu Li Xiaofei Sun Wei Zheng Xianhong Tan Jiaming Cai |
| author_facet | Yanyu Zhang Xiaoyu Li Xiaofei Sun Wei Zheng Xianhong Tan Jiaming Cai |
| author_sort | Yanyu Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Supercritical water (SCW) is a novel thermal agent that has been recently utilized for the production of heavy oil. However, a lack of knowledge about its recovery mechanisms limits the application of SCW. In this study, pyrolysis and sandpack flooding experiments were performed to investigate the mechanisms and viability of SCW flooding. Then an innovative simulation model was developed for SCW flooding. Finally, sensitivity studies on SCW flooding were conducted by the developed model. The results showed that SCW flooding yielded a 13.99% increase in oil recovery in comparison to steam flooding, indicating that SCW flooding is technically applicable to offshore heavy oil reservoirs. Heavy oil upgrading in SCW can suppress coke formation and plays an important role in oil recovery. A novel numerical model for SCW flooding was established based on a history match of experiments. The simulation results suggested that during SCW flooding, SCW could induce heavy oil upgrading to increase oil mobility, and long-term injection of SCW may cause the formation of coke deposits. Higher injection temperatures and pressures would benefit the production performance of SCW flooding. However, an unlimited increase in temperature would damage formations by significant coke deposits. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9eead43e72374e66a70ccd39b3162405 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1468-8123 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geofluids |
| spelling | doaj-art-9eead43e72374e66a70ccd39b31624052025-02-03T01:07:37ZengWileyGeofluids1468-81232022-01-01202210.1155/2022/5362235Experimental and Numerical Studies of Supercritical Water Flooding for Offshore Heavy Oil RecoveryYanyu Zhang0Xiaoyu Li1Xiaofei Sun2Wei Zheng3Xianhong Tan4Jiaming Cai5China University of Petroleum (East China)China University of Petroleum (East China)China University of Petroleum (East China)State Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil ExploitationState Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil ExploitationChina University of Petroleum (East China)Supercritical water (SCW) is a novel thermal agent that has been recently utilized for the production of heavy oil. However, a lack of knowledge about its recovery mechanisms limits the application of SCW. In this study, pyrolysis and sandpack flooding experiments were performed to investigate the mechanisms and viability of SCW flooding. Then an innovative simulation model was developed for SCW flooding. Finally, sensitivity studies on SCW flooding were conducted by the developed model. The results showed that SCW flooding yielded a 13.99% increase in oil recovery in comparison to steam flooding, indicating that SCW flooding is technically applicable to offshore heavy oil reservoirs. Heavy oil upgrading in SCW can suppress coke formation and plays an important role in oil recovery. A novel numerical model for SCW flooding was established based on a history match of experiments. The simulation results suggested that during SCW flooding, SCW could induce heavy oil upgrading to increase oil mobility, and long-term injection of SCW may cause the formation of coke deposits. Higher injection temperatures and pressures would benefit the production performance of SCW flooding. However, an unlimited increase in temperature would damage formations by significant coke deposits.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/5362235 |
| spellingShingle | Yanyu Zhang Xiaoyu Li Xiaofei Sun Wei Zheng Xianhong Tan Jiaming Cai Experimental and Numerical Studies of Supercritical Water Flooding for Offshore Heavy Oil Recovery Geofluids |
| title | Experimental and Numerical Studies of Supercritical Water Flooding for Offshore Heavy Oil Recovery |
| title_full | Experimental and Numerical Studies of Supercritical Water Flooding for Offshore Heavy Oil Recovery |
| title_fullStr | Experimental and Numerical Studies of Supercritical Water Flooding for Offshore Heavy Oil Recovery |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experimental and Numerical Studies of Supercritical Water Flooding for Offshore Heavy Oil Recovery |
| title_short | Experimental and Numerical Studies of Supercritical Water Flooding for Offshore Heavy Oil Recovery |
| title_sort | experimental and numerical studies of supercritical water flooding for offshore heavy oil recovery |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/5362235 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yanyuzhang experimentalandnumericalstudiesofsupercriticalwaterfloodingforoffshoreheavyoilrecovery AT xiaoyuli experimentalandnumericalstudiesofsupercriticalwaterfloodingforoffshoreheavyoilrecovery AT xiaofeisun experimentalandnumericalstudiesofsupercriticalwaterfloodingforoffshoreheavyoilrecovery AT weizheng experimentalandnumericalstudiesofsupercriticalwaterfloodingforoffshoreheavyoilrecovery AT xianhongtan experimentalandnumericalstudiesofsupercriticalwaterfloodingforoffshoreheavyoilrecovery AT jiamingcai experimentalandnumericalstudiesofsupercriticalwaterfloodingforoffshoreheavyoilrecovery |