000			03100nab a2200205 4500
005			20260520002031.0
008			260224s2011 xxu
245	0	0	_aExperimental investigation of in-situ combustion at low air fluxes
260			_a _b _cnov./dic. 2011
270			_a29/11/2011 ; 29/11/2011
300			_a20 p. ; 48-67
520			_aTranscripción del resumen del autor. The oil industry has inherited a mixed history of success and failure of application of air injection as an enhanced-oil-recovery method. Close scrutiny of these projects shows that in order to conduct a successful in-situ-combustion-oil-recovery project, sustained propagation of the combustion front within the reservoirs is necessary. Sufficient air must be supplied to maintain the propagating combustion front in the desired bond-scission (carbon-oxide-forming) mode, otherwise unfavourable oxygen addition [i.e., low-temperature-oxidation (LTO) reactions] will consume oxygen and immobilize oil. When this happens, the combustion process is deemed to be exhausted. Quantification of the minimum air flux required for sustaining combustion-zone propagation is needed to properly match the capacity of the air-injection facility to the volume of the reservoir that is to be swept by the thermal zone. Undersizing the air-injection capacity causes the in-situ-combustion process to become inefficient at a point when only a small portion of the reservoir has been "burned." One-dimensional combustion tubes (CTs) are conventionally used to obtain important combustion parameters required for designing an air-injection project. Because of the high heat capacity of laboratory equipment designed for elevated-temperature and -pressure operation, oxygen addition or LTO reactions are promoted by the heat transfer through the core-holder walls when the laboratory tests are performed at low air-injection rates. Therefore, when operated at elevated pressures, the CTs are unable to operate at the low air fluxes required to establish the minimum possible air-injection flux while maintaining the combustion reactions in an effective mode. To address this issue, a state-of-the-art combustion cell was conceived and used as a way of addressing the previously mentioned constraints associated with high-pressure 1D CTs. A conical combustion-cell design was built because it enables continuous air-flux reductions without having to adjust the air-injection rate. The heater control strategy was also modified in order to address the lag-lead operation often used for 1D CTs. To date, the unit has operated at air fluxes down to 3 std m3/m2 The experimental work described in this paper provides insight into the limitations in laboratory investigations of in-situ combustion and the expected behaviour of field applications of the in-situ-combustion process.
581			_a11/12
773	0		_tJournal of Canadian Petroleum Technology _g50
942			_cARTICULO
100	1		_aAlamatsaz, Alireza _952177
100	1		_aGordon Moore, R. _952178
100	1		_aMehta, Sudarshan A. _952179
999			_c186620 _d186620