Abstract
Heavy oil recovery requires either heat (SAGD) or a solvent (VAPEX) to reduce its high viscosity first and then the less viscous oil can be recovered. We show here that the existing data, on the rate of oil recovered in VAPEX process in sand packs show a square root dependence on the height of pay zone, following expectation. This dependence had remained uncertain and is of importance in oil field operations. We have used dimensional analysis and inverse viscosity-diffusivity dependence to obtain an expression for the rate that agrees well with the available sand pack data. The dimensional analysis overcomes the uncertainty in the number of independent variables and leads to standard dimensionless groups. The inverse dependence is based on the free volume theory which we have tested earlier successfully for heavy oils. The final correlation is shown to work well in the limit where we go from sand packs to reservoir.
Recommended Citation
V. Mohan and P. Neogi, "Extraction Rate in Vapor Assisted Extraction of Heavy Oil (Vapex)," Improved Oil and Gas Recovery, vol. 3, Smart Science and Technology LLC, Jan 2019.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.14800/IOGR.430
Department(s)
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Publication Status
Open Access
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
2688-8246
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2024 Smart Science and Technology LLC, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2019
