Grant: Alliance Grants

Canada has the largest oil sands deposit in the world, containing bitumen that represents over 10% of global proven oil reserves. A predominant extraction method is steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), which confronts various challenges, including complex emulsion treatment, silica and hardness removal, and fouling issues. Stable emulsions pose a significant obstacle, impeding water-oil phase separation, reducing bitumen recovery, and presenting challenges for pipeline transport, upgrading, and refining. Additionally, the produced water, with organic species, metal ions, and fine solids, often leads to scaling and fouling problems, thereby increasing operating and maintenance costs. The proposed project seeks to deepen our understanding of interfacial science and interaction mechanisms in SAGD bitumen extraction to foster the development of more efficient and sustainable technology. Its objectives include: (1) Investigating the molecular/surface forces involved in stabilizing and destabilizing SAGD emulsions to gain insights into the oil-water separation process and develop more effective emulsion treatment reagents; (2) Exploring the coagulation/flocculation chemistry in the warm lime softening (WLS) process, examining the interaction forces between WLS particles and coagulants/flocculants, and establishing correlations between force results and the silica and hardness removal efficiency; (3) Studying the driving forces behind water cooler fouling (WCF) issues triggered by SAGD produced water and understanding the interaction mechanisms that underlie the antifouling properties of selected reagents to inform the development of novel antifouling agents applicable in SAGD operations. Successful outcomes of this research project will not only enhance our fundamental understanding of molecular and interfacial interactions within water-oil-solids systems in SAGD operations but also elucidate the mechanisms behind complex emulsion treatment, WLS and WCF processes. These findings will offer valuable insights for Canada's oil, mineral, and chemical sectors, facilitating the development of more efficient and sustainable SAGD technology.