| This research was undertaken to study the performance of paraffinic solvents at higher temperatures for heavy oil/bitumen recovery. Heavy oil or bitumen saturated glass bead packs, Berea sandstone and carbonate cores were used in the experiments to represent different types of pore structures, porosity and permeability.;Final recovery and the quantity of asphaltene precipitated in each experiment were reported. It was observed that recovery decreased with increasing temperature and pressure of the system and that the best results were obtained when the experimental temperature is slightly higher than the solvent saturation temperature. It was also noticed that butane diluted the oil more than propane.;Furthermore, numerical simulation was conducted using a commercial simulator including asphaltene precipitation option. Visualization experiments were also carried out using 2-D Hele-Shaw models to observe the effect of asphaltene precipitation on the dynamics of the process.;Using this analysis, the mechanics of the hot solvent process was clarified and the impact of temperature, pressure, asphaltene deposition, permeability and solvent type on recovery were quantified. |
