Berna Hascakir

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Texas A&M University

In-situ combustion (ISC) is a complex thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method traditionally applied to heavy and extra-heavy oil reservoirs. Its application to low-viscosity oil reservoirs presents challenges due to the higher ignition temperature requirements, resulting from the stable molecular content of such oils, and the lack of heavy fract...

This study investigates the carbon capture potential of dolomite, gypsum, and limonite, focusing on their ability to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) through mineral carbonation under atmospheric conditions. The research examines how different aqueous environments influence carbon uptake, with particular emphasis on the role of water composition in e...

In-situ combustion (ISC) is a well-established enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique, traditionally used for high-viscosity oil reservoirs. However, its application to low-viscosity oil reservoirs presents challenges due to the high ignition temperature required and insufficient heavy oil fractions to sustain combustion. This study investigates ISC...

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is globally recognized as a vital, strategic approach to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Among various sequestration methods, mineral trapping is recognized for its superior safety and extensive CO2 storage capacity. This study presents a novel methodology for a...

This research delves into the pioneering application of evaporative cooling (EC) to address the challenge of reducing total dissolved solids (TDS) in produced water generated during hydraulic fracturing operations in the Permian Basin. In this study, we used a meticulously designed laboratory-scale EC system comprising three cooling pads, a fan, a...

In this research, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of evaporative cooling (EC), a novel method, in reducing Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in produced water from hydraulic fracturing activities in the Permian Basin. To investigate the potential of EC for TDS removal in oil field waters, we conducted experiments using a lab-scale EC system consi...

The stability of asphaltenes in crude oil is influenced by various factors, including interactions with reservoir components such as brine and rock formations. While previous research has focused on pressure and temperature effects, a comprehensive understanding of the combined impact of brine and reservoir rock on asphaltene stability is lacking....

This research delivers a comprehensive analysis of complex permittivity’s sensitivity—a key parameter in characterizing electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption and penetration dynamics within oil reservoirs—to various reservoir properties including temperature, pressure, mineralogy (limestone, quartz, and clays), and water saturation. Contemporary est...

This study investigates a novel method to reduce TDS in produced water to enable safe and effective reuse in hydraulic fracturing. In particular, we test whether evaporative technology can effectively separate dissolved solids from high-TDS wastewater produced in abundance in oil fields. Experiments were conducted with distilled water (E1) and prod...

Global oil consumption is predicted to increase by 15% from 2021 to 2050. The increasing oil demand and decreasing conventional oil supply force us to find alternate energy supplies. The key to this problem lies with the vast untapped heavy oil and bitumen resources. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of an environmentally friendly sol...

This study reviews the existing oil and gas fields in Brazil located both onshore and offshore. Focus is on geology and production history of Santos, Campos, Reconcavo, Sergipe, and Potiguar Basins. We mainly reviewed the geological and reservoir characteristics of these basins, their production history, applied enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods,...

Accurate and speedy determination of pressure drop during cuttings transport is an important aspect of a drilling operation. However, the literature suggests that there is a lack of a simple, ready to use, and accurate model that can predict pressure drop for settling solid-liquid flow during the drilling operation. Therefore, this study aims to de...

Solvent injection recovery processes were introduced as a more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to Steam injection processes. However, BTX chemicals (Benzene, Toluene, and Xylene), commonly used for crude oil recovery due to their strong solvency and low asphaltene precipitation, are acutely toxic and harmful to the environ...

Inadequate hole-cleaning in an annulus leads to several problems such as mechanical pipe sticking, premature bit wear, formation fracturing, and/or slow drilling. However, the literature suggests a lack of experimental analysis of the impact of various parameters on cutting transport. Therefore, the present study investigates the impact of various...

Destabilized asphaltenes cause serious flow assurance problems such as asphaltenes precipitation. This study investigates the impact of clays and salinity on the stability of asphaltenes for five different crude oil samples. First, both n-pentane and n-heptane insoluble fractions of five crude oils were examined under microscope after the interacti...

This study investigates the effect of different operating parameters such as liquid mass flow rate, gas volumetric flow rate, gas input pressure, cutting concentration, fluid rheology on cutting transport. Furthermore, a novel performance parameter was introduced which can be used for comparing the cutting transport efficiency of different fluids a...

Steam injection is an effective heavy oil recovery method, however, poses several environmental concerns. Solvent injection methods are introduced in an attempt to combat these environmental concerns. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a new solvent (VisRed) in the recovery of a Canadian bitumen and compares its results with toluene. While V...

There are mainly two types of solids in the oil field waters; Suspended Solids (SS) and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). While it is easy to remove SS from water, removal of TDS requires the application of advance filtration techniques such as reverse osmosis or ultra-filtration. Because these techniques cannot handle high volumes of the oilfield wate...

Gas kick is a well control problem and is defined as the sudden influx of formation gas into the wellbore. This sudden influx, if not controlled, may lead to a blowout problem. An accidental spark during a blowout can lead to a catastrophic oil or gas fire. This makes early gas kick detection crucial to minimize the possibility of a blowout. The co...

This study investigates the role of polar fractions of heavy oil in the surfactant-steamflooding process. Performance analyses of this process were done by examination of the dipole-dipole and ion-ion interactions between the polar head group of surfactants and the charged polar fraction of crude oil, namely, asphaltenes. Surfactants are designed t...

The objectives of this study are to perform a fundamental analysis of the mutual interactions between crude oil components, water, hydrocarbon solvents, and clays, and to determine the optimum hydrocarbon solvent in solvent steamflooding for a particular reservoir type. The water/oil emulsion formation mechanism in the obtained oil for steam and so...

The large-scale extraction of unconventional resources from shale reservoirs utilizing horizontal hydraulic fracturing has significantly improved economic development in U.S. However, the increased well production has been accompanied by rising concerns about potential impact resulting from excessive freshwater usage and wastewater generation. Curr...

The objective of this study is to investigate the intermolecular interactions between the surfactants and the fractions of heavy crude oils. Two possible interactions were considered; polar and ionic interactions for two heavy crude oil–surfactant systems, and 20 surfactant-steam flooding tests were conducted on these crudes by testing nine surfact...

Heterogeneity to some extent is realized in every reservoir. Variable properties, namely fluid saturations and lithology, make it very difficult to accurately estimate the bulk dielectric response of the reservoir. This study isolates and identifies the dependencies of the bulk dielectric response to changing water content, quartz content, limeston...

This study investigates the role of heavy oil polar fractions in surfactant-steam flooding performance. Performance analyses were done by examination of the dipole-dipole and ion-ion interactions between polar head group of surfactants and charged polar fraction of crude oil, asphaltenes. Surfactants are designed to reduce the interfacial tension b...

In this study, a series of steam and solvent-steam flooding experiments are conducted to study the produced oil quality in terms of water-oil emulsions. A set of seven experiments are performed, beginning with steam flooding, and solvent-steam flooding using propane, n-butane, n-pentane, n-hexane, and n-heptane as paraffinic solvents that are insol...

Understanding water-rock interactions occurring during hydraulic fracturing is vital to better engineer the hydraulic fracturing water. In this study, a systematic model of water-rock reactions is presented to mimic the interaction of reservoir rock with water. To investigate the water-rock interaction Marcellus Formation was selected. The reservoi...

Reaction kinetics experiments are conducted to estimate important combustion parameters for crude oils. However, at elevated temperatures not only crude oil, but also reservoir rock is reactive, and the interaction of reservoir rocks with fluids may change the fate of the In-Situ Combustion (ISC) process. This study investigates the role of carbona...

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of polarity on surfactant-steam flooding performance in the recovery of a Canadian bitumen sample. 10 laboratory-scale core flood experiments were used to investigate the interaction between the polar head of surfactants and polar fractions of the bitumen sample (resins and asphaltenes) in the pr...

Electromagnetic (EM) waves are used in the oil and gas industry to identify the geology of the formation and the type of the fluid saturating the medium. There is also an interest to use the electromagnetic waves as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method. However, interpretation of logging data generated through electromagnetic waves or determinatio...

Clays are known to act as a catalyst during the in-situ combustion (ISC) process. This work investigates the role of clay in reaction kinetics of a bitumen sample. Several Thermogravimetric Analysis/Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TGA/DSC) experiments were conducted on a Canadian bitumen and its saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes (SAR...

The increased surface area of reservoir rock due to the presence of clays and the catalytic impact of clays are known to enhance the in-situ combustion (ISC) performance. But the basics behind these mechanisms are still unknown. Six one-dimensional (1-D) combustion tube experiments were conducted on three different crude oil samples. Each crude oil...

Reuse of flowback water in hydraulic fracturing is usually used by industry to reduce consumption, transportation, and disposal cost of water. However, because of complex interactions between injected water and reservoir rocks, induced fractures may be blocked by impurities carried by flowback and mineral precipitation by water/rock interactions, w...

Application of enhanced oil recovery methods in Kazakhstan has been ongoing for decades alongside the continued discovery of new oil and gas fields in the Pre-Caspian Basin. The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the hydrocarbon reserves and production, and the status of the petroleum industry in Kazakhstan, with a focus on the E...

Electromagnetic waves as a mechanism of heat generation in the reservoir is a concept that has great potential to efficiently produce heavy oil and bitumen. However, as a result of large wave attenuation, the penetration depth of the wave is relatively small. This limits the economic viability of an otherwise technically proven technology. Taking a...

Candidacy of any reservoir as a microwave absorber is predicated on the complex permittivity of the sample. Modeling both the penetration and absorption dynamics of the electromagnetic wave in the reservoir is dependent on realistic estimation of this parameter. Therefore, it becomes necessary to understand the inherent intricacies of complex permi...

Steam flooding is the most widely used thermal enhance oil recovery (EOR) process to recover bitumen and heavy oil. This process has been proven to be reliable, thus, establishing itself as a favorite among other thermal EORs. However, the excessive water usage to generate steam causes environmental concerns such as air and water pollution. Thus, a...

Coinjecting of steam with surfactant to recover heavy crude oil is studied. Performance production of this process is achieved through analysis of the formed emulsions which provides mechanistic understanding of crude oil and surfactant interaction in the presence of steam. Surfactants are used to reduce the interfacial tension between water and oi...

Reuse of flowback water in hydraulic fracturing is usually used by industry to reduce consumption, transportation and disposal cost of water. But because of complex interactions between injected water and reservoir rocks, induced fractures may be blocked by impurities carried by flowback and mineral precipitation by water-rock interactions, which c...

Heat generation in the reservoir by means of electromagnetic wave stimulation offers innate advantage with efficient energy introduction. Transmissibility of heavy oil and bitumen are predicated on decreased viscosity through temperature rise, which makes microwave heating a plausible candidate. This study focuses on identifying the components of t...

The oil and gas industry has often been blamed for its major contribution to greenhouse gas releases and designated as a target to knock down by media, activists, and environmentalists. It is true to say that without Oil and Gas Industry, anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and CH4 would be much lower. Similarly, it is also true to state that without th...

The complicated nature of combustion reactions makes the performance prediction of in-situ combustion difficult. This study proposes a solution to better understand the complex chemical reaction schemes through systematically conducted Thermogravimetric Analysis and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TGA/DSC) experiments. In this study, results fro...

Heavy oil extraction requires heat introduction to the reservoir to enhance the mobility of oil. While steam injection is one of the most reliable thermal EOR methods for heat introduction, it has several operational, technical, economic, and environmental limitations. This study investigates the effectiveness of a newly developed downhole steam ge...

Complex molecular structure, high impurity content, and self-association tendency of asphaltenes makes the determination of its phase behavior very difficult. Since, asphaltenes phase behavior is indicative of asphaltenes stability within the bulk oil, it is very important to understand its stability. Various production and flow assurance challenge...

Performance predictions of the In-Situ Combustion (ISC) process is a challenge as it involves complicated chemical reactions, fluids movement, phase changes, and heat and mass transfer. This study investigates how oil type and water presence can affect the ISC performance, based on using a combination of combustion tube and Thermogravimetric Analys...

One method of thermal recovery, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), has proven a commercial success in heavy oil/bitumen production. However, geological and reservoir heterogeneity often complicate this task resulting in uneven production rates, higher operational costs, and stranded heavy oil/bitumen. This work theorizes that SAGD recovery is...

Microwave heating has great potential to recover heavy oil reservoirs, because it significantly reduces the heating time and consequently the cost of heavy oil extraction. Moreover, heavy crude oils contain high amounts of polar molecules (asphaltenes) and polar functional groups, making them great microwaving candidates. This study investigates th...

The objective of this paper is to enhance the produced oil quality during solvent-steam flooding processes by using asphaltenes precipitants and environmentally friendly solvents as injection fluid. This way, it is aimed to increase the asphaltene deposition tendency and decrease the emulsion formation severity. Eight one-dimensional core flood exp...

Performance predictions of In-Situ Combustion (ISC) process is a challenge as it involves complicated chemical reactions, fluids movement, phase changes, and heat and mass transfer. This study investigates how the aquathermolysis reactions and their chemical products can affect the ISC performance through combination of combustion tube and Thermogr...

Steam injection is widely used enhanced oil recovery technique for heavy oil extraction. However, environmental and economic drawbacks of steam generation make the chemical additive-steam injection processes more favorable than steam injection alone. In this study, the performance of surfactant-steam flood process were investigated for heavy oil re...

Electromagnetic waves as a viable means of introducing heat energy to reservoirs to allow for transmission of heavy or extra-heavy oil have been gaining prominence and notoriety in recent years due to its applicability to a wide variety of reservoirs. However, how reservoir properties affect the electromagnetic wave penetration is not well defined....

In this paper, the direct liquefaction of Turkish Niǧde-Ulukışla oil shale in noncatalytic and catalytic conditions was studied. The effects of pressure, tetralin/oil shale ratio, catalyst type and concentration, reaction time and temperature and oil shale/waste paper ratio on the process were investigated. It was found that tetralin/oil shale rati...

Over the past year and a half, the price of oil has plummeted from over $100 US per bbl in early 2014 to less than $47 US per bbl in the mid of 2017. In an attempt to sustain production without incurring significant additional expenditures, some operators may choose to implement enhanced oil recovery projects (such as waterflooding) while also util...

Asphaltenes stability is a phase behavior phenomenon and affected mainly by the change in pressure and temperature. However, the changes in pressure and temperature lead compositional changes, hence, the dependency of asphaltenes stability on crude oil composition requires more clarity. In this study, the impact of solubility, polarity, and reservo...

Increased surface area of reservoir rock due to the presence of clays and the catalytic impact of clays are known to enhance the in-situ combustion (ISC) performance. But the basics behind these mechanisms are still not known. In this study, we investigated the role of clays on ISC in microscopic scale. Six one-dimensional combustion tube experimen...

Interactions between reservoir rocks and engineering fluids during hydraulic fracturing have potential for modification of pores and flow paths by mineral transformation and precipitation and contamination of production fluids by metals and other salts. In order to infer how these interactions affect hydraulic fracturing performance, this study inv...

Commercialization of the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process has made recovery of heavy oil/bitumen possible in a number of reservoirs hindered by hydrocarbon immobility. However, the economics of this process are highly sensitive to the efficiency of steam creation, delivery, and use, with a successful and unsuccessful SAGD well pair of...

Research studies research studies on thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes need to be strongly encouraged to capitalize on the ture potential of thermal EOR method for the recovery of low API gravity oils and to meet future fossil fuel demands. 20 outstanding manuscripts which focus on the different aspects of thermal EOR methods were suppo...

Carbon dioxide storage in high viscosity and density hydrocarbon reservoirs that have high asphaltenes content is attractive. However, CO2 is an asphaltenes insoluble solvent, hence, CO2 injection into these reservoirs is expected to cause asphaltenes deposition. In pore-scale, how the deposition of asphaltenes would impact the CO2 trapping and con...

This study focusses on the impact of wettability alteration of reservoir clays on the overall efficiency of Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD). Samples from two SAGD experiments were investigatedSAGD1, consisting of kaolinite in the oil-sand packing and SAGD2, consisting of a mixture of kaolinite (90 wt%) and illite (10 wt%). The residual oil s...

The impact of non-swelling clays on Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) performance was studied in this work. Two SAGD experiments were conducted on a Canadian bitumen by preparing the reservoir rocks with two different non-swelling clays; kaolinite (SAGD1) and kaolinite (90 wt%) and illite (10 wt%) (SAGD2). Change in clay type from kaolinite to...

Solvent- Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (S-SAGD) processes for bitumen extraction are proposed to reduce the environmental impact of steam injection. S-SAGD processes require more research due to the unknowns of solvent-bitumen interaction and the desire to reduce the cost of steam and solvent utilized. This study investigates propane-SAGD (P-SAGD...

One method of thermal recovery, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), has proven a commercial success in heavy oil/bitumen production. However, geological and reservoir heterogeneity often complicate this task resulting in uneven production rates, higher operational costs, and stranded heavy oil/bitumen. This work theorizes that SAGD recovery is...

This paper studies the adsorption behavior of representative guar-based polymers onto the surface of source rock outcrop samples to provide a better picture of the interaction(s) of polymers with these rocks. Outcrop samples from the Barnett, Eagle Ford, and Marcellus shales were collected, analyzed for mineralogy and total organic content, and the...

In-situ combustion (ISC), being one of the most successful thermal enhanced oil recovery methods, is highly sensitive to reservoir heterogeneities. In the present study, we investigated the impact of fracture orientation on ISC performance through one dimensional combustion tube experiments on a Canadian bitumen, which possesses good burning charac...

The extraction of organic kerogen from the vast oil shale reserves in Green River, Utah is limited owing to the environmental and technical challenges. This study compares the efficiency of combustion and pyrolysis to extract the kerogen from shale, in terms of organic thermal decomposition temperature, heating rates, and activation energy calculat...

Asphaltenes represent the heaviest and the most polar fraction of crude oil. The interaction of asphaltenes with other fractions of crude oil can affect its overall polarity and stability. Due to the complex nature of the molecules constituting asphaltenes, determining asphaltenes polarity and thereby predicting its stability is, however, difficult...

Water is one of the cheapest and the most abundant injection fluid for oil extraction. Hence, as the hydrocarbon production increases, the amount of water injected escalates which brings the necessity of the proper management and treatment of produced water. The produced water quality can vary greatly depending on water injection processes employed...

Co-injection of solvents with steam increases the oil recovery factor and reduces significantly the environmental impact of steam injection processes. Nevertheless, the quality of the extracted bitumen is important to evaluate the process performance which is affected by the solvent-bitumen interaction. This interaction might lead to emulsion forma...

The near wellbore damage due to asphaltenes deposition is one of the major flow assurance issues currently faced by the petroleum industry. This study examines the pore scale flocculation and deposition processes of asphaltenes onto rock matrices. The effect of sand-grain size, clay presence in the reservoir rock, crude oil type, and precipitated a...

The goal of solvent-steam-flooding is enhancing bitumen displacement by the simultaneous development of solvent miscibility and reduction of oil viscosity. Though this strategy reduces greenhouse gas emissions, solvents are generally expensive. Additionally, bitumen recovery performance is affected by oil/solvent/clay/asphaltene interactions on the...

Asphaltenes precipitation within reservoir pores or production flowlines can severely hamper the petroleum-extraction process. Although the effect of temperature and pressure on asphaltene deposition is well-known, the manner in which the variations in oil composition affect the asphaltenes-precipitation mechanism requires more clarity. This work i...

Solvent Assisted-Steam Flooding (SA-SF) was developed to address the environmental and economic challenges associated with steam generation. The solvent composition can greatly affect its interaction with both the asphaltenes present in the oil as well as the clays in the reservoir; therefore solvent selection plays a major role in the process. Thi...

Fluid flow through the reservoir is defined on the basis of the relative permeability which essentially captures the preferential flow of any specific fluid. Utilization of steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) presents challenges to the conventional understanding of relative permeability due to the introduction of heat to the reservoir. The prese...

The stability of asphaltenes is a critical parameter which may affect the flow in porous media significantly. This study investigates the change in the stability of asphaltenes after the interaction of asphaltenes originated from five different reservoirs with reservoir components? namely sand, clay, water, and brine. Asphaltenes are polar like wat...

Solvent-steam processes gained popularity in recent years in the extraction of high-asphaltenes-content heavy hydrocarbons. However, while solvent selection is key for the success of these processes, the criteria for solvent selection are still not fully established. In this study, three asphaltenes insoluble (propane, n-hexane, carbon dioxide) and...

In-situ Combustion (ISC) has the potential to be the most effective enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method for heavy oil recovery. However, it is considered a high risk failure rate process since it is hard to predict the combustion reactions between complex crude oil and heterogeneous rock matrices. If the reservoir rock is reactive, like carbonates,...

The goal of solvent-steam-flooding is enhancing bitumen recovery by the simultaneous development of miscibility and reduction of oil viscosity. Though this strategy reduces greenhouse gas emissions, solvents are expensive. Additionally, bitumen recovery performance is affected by oil/solvent/clay/asphaltene interactions on pore-scale. The solvent d...

Knowledge of water/rock interactions on the surface of fractures is important to develop an understanding of the geological structures and changes within the formation, and to determine hydraulic-fracturing (HF) performance. To obtain this knowledge, this study investigates water/shale interactions in carbonate-rich (Eagle Ford), organic-rich (Gree...

Significant effort has been dedicated to understand the variables affecting asphaltene precipitation. Based on years of research, it is well known how variables such as temperature and pressure can affect the deposition of asphaltenes. However, much less is understood about the effect that asphaltene characteristics have on the tendency towards pre...

Destabilized asphaltenes cause serious problems by precipitating in the reservoir pores which reduces the oil flow by decreasing the reservoir porosity and permeability significantly. This study investigates the impact of clays and salinity on the stability of asphaltenes for five different crude oil samples. First, both n-pentane and n-heptane ins...

Asphaltenes and resins are the polar and saturates and aromatics are the nonpolar fractions of the crude oil. The mutual interaction within crude oil fractions results in different overall polarity. With the onset asphaltene precipitation, the overall polarity starts to change drastically and this change affects the asphaltene stability more. This...

Extraction of unconventional resources is vital to meet future hydrocarbon demand. However, the effective extraction of these unconventional resources cannot be accomplished by the application of conventional technologies. This study summarizes different combination of different Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods to recover effectively the low API...

Enhanced oil displacement in a reservoir is highly affected by wettability alterations in conjunction with the lowering of viscosities during steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) for bitumen extraction. The impartation of energy in the form of heat to the fluid by injecting steam triggers an alteration to a more water-wet state during SAGD. Howev...

The Green River, Utah holds the world's greatest oil shale resources. However, the hydrocarbon, which is namely kerogen, extraction from shales is limited due to environmental and technical challenges. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of the combustion process for shale oil extraction. Samples collected from the Green River formatio...

Solvent Aided-Steam Flooding (SA-SF) focuses on maximizing the oil production by reducing the economic and environmental challenges created by steam generation. However, the solvent selection is vital due to the interaction of solvents with asphaltenes. Moreover, the polar nature of asphaltenes also enables asphaltene-steam interaction which may re...

The residual oil saturation determination is critical for the performance evaluation of any Enhance Oil Recovery (EOR) methods. The existing residual oil saturation determination methods are mainly based on solvent extraction. However, because the quality of the extracted residual oil and the remaining spent rock samples have not been examined befo...

The integrity of Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) wells are often threatened by the very steam that provides the process its name. High rate steam production, or the adiabatic flashing of steam condensate to a vapor state, often creates an environment of "flashing erosion", erosive damage created by the water-cutting effect of high velocity w...

In-situ combustion (ISC), being one of the most successful thermal enhanced oil recovery methods, is highly sensitive to reservoir heterogeneities. In the present study, we investigate the impact of perpendicular (E1) and lateral (E2) fractures to the air injection direction in ISC performance through one dimensional combustion tube experiments on...

The in-situ combustion (ISC) is highly effective thermal enhanced oil recovery process in which high displacement efficiencies can be accomplished. While several physical and chemical factors affect the ISC performance, there is a little knowledge about how each parameter changes the ISC fate. In this study, we investigate the catalytic effect of c...

Asphaltene precipitation can severely hamper the petroleum extraction by plugging the pores or precipitation in production lines. Although the effect of temperature and pressure on asphaltene deposition is well known, how the variations in oil composition affect the asphaltene precipitation mechanism requires more clarity. This work investigates th...

We integrate the results of six one dimensional combustion tube tests and several reaction kinetics experiments conducted with Thermogravimetric Analyzer and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TGA/DSC) to investigate fully the burning characteristics of a Canadian bitumen (8.6 °API, 54,000 cP at 25 °C). Our ultimate goal is to estimate the variatio...

While previous studies investigate the effect of impure CO2 streams in high and medium API gravity oils, this work focus on reservoirs with low API. This analysis provides additional alternatives for CO2 storage due to the uneconomical exploration and the vast extension of heavy oil resources. CO2 streams (re)injected for storage may contain impuri...