Abstract
The use of light solvents such as hexane and peroleum benzine together with steam was investigated as a means of obtaining additional bitumen recovery from oil sands in the steam flooding process. A total of 16 experiments were conducted. Each set of experiments consists of a steam-hexane run a steam-petroleum benzine run and a base-line steamonly run for the sake of comparison. Steam temperatures used were 250°C and 300°C. Temperatures on the steam drive were measured at eight observation wells and at various times in all runs.
Based on this study, it appears that solvents used in conjunction with steam have considerable potential in bitumen recovery when compared to base line experiments conducted in the absence of solvents. It was concluded from this study that petroleum benzine was more efficient that hexane and through its use a greater amount of bitumen was recovered from the oil sand. The best bitumen recovery rate in steam-petroleum benzine runs (56.6%) was obtained at 300°C steam temperature.
