Laboratory study of cyclic liquid solvent injection process for heavy oil recovery through computed tomography

Abstract

The cyclic solvents injection has been considered for years as an improved non-thermal enhanced oil recovery method for the recovery of heavy oil, which includes three stages: injection, soaking, and production. This paper describes a laboratory study with Computed Tomography and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance of a cyclic solvent injection process in a porous medium, using naphtha as a liquid diluent to recover a Colombian heavy oil in a porous medium at 84 °C. The core was scanned during the soaking time to determine the expansion behavior of the mixing zone by analyzing the density profiles obtained after each scan. It was also scanned after the production stage to observe the distribution of saturation in the porous medium after each cycle. Finally, the fluids recovered from porous medium were taken to a nuclear magnetic resonance equipment to determine the recovery factor.

Keywords

• heavy oil
• enhanced recovery
• solvent injection
• computed tomography
• nuclear magnetic resonance