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Theoretical and Experimental Studies on the Performance of Radio Frequency Heating Oil Sands Based on the Phase Transition of Water

  • Research Article-Petroleum Engineering
  • Published:
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Abstract

At present, steam-assisted gravity drainage technology has failed to meet the requirement for the large-scale development of abundant oil sands resources due to high production cost and serious environmental pollution caused by huge amounts of carbon emissions. Therefore, this paper proposes a radio frequency technology for heating oil sands and establishes a corresponding mathematical model that considers the phase transition of water. Then, a lab-scale experimental setup is designed to experimentally investigate the performance of radio frequency heating based on the phase change. Finally, the influences of phase transition of water on the temperature distribution of oil sand samples are analyzed in detail. The results show that the mathematical model of radio frequency heating can accurately predict the temperature distribution prior to the phase transition of water due to the little effect of phase transition on the thermal properties and density of oil sand samples. The failure to consider the effect of phase transition of water on electrical conductivity of oil sand in the mathematical model accounts for a large deviation between the measured temperature data and numerical results. So, in order to make the calculated temperature results more accurate, this effect should be considered during numerical simulation.

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Abbreviations

c i :

Specific heat of medium i, J/(kg·°C)

k i :

Thermal conductivity of medium i, W/(m·°C)

ρ i :

Density of medium i, kg/m3

Φ :

Porosity, dimensionless

S w :

Water saturation, dimensionless

ε :

Relative permittivity of oil sand, dimensionless

σ :

Electrical conductivity of oil sand, S/m

σ w :

Electrical conductivity of water, S/m

m 1 :

Cementation factor of rock, dimensionless

n 1 :

Saturation exponent of rock, dimensionless

θ :

Fraction of water phase, dimensionless

T :

Temperature, °C

T pc :

Phase change temperature of connate water, °C

ΔT :

Temperature interval of phase transformation, °C

L :

Latent heat of vaporization, kJ/kg

α m :

Mass fraction, dimensionless

E :

Electric field vector, V/m

μ :

Relative magnetic permeability, dimensionless

j :

Imaginary unit

f :

Frequency of EMW, Hz

ε 0 :

Permittivity of vacuum, F/m

k 0 :

Wave number in vacuum, 1/m

μ 0 :

Permeability of vacuum, H/m

ω :

Angular frequency, rad/s

Q :

EM heat, W/m3

t :

Heating time, h

T const :

Initial temperature, °C

S :

Outer surfaces of reservoir

n :

Normal direction of reservoir outer surfaces

i :

Medium

r:

Rock

w:

Water

o:

Oil

v:

Vapor

wv:

Phase transformation

EM:

Electromagnetic

RF:

Radio frequency

EMW:

Electromagnetic wave

SAGD:

Steam-assisted gravity drainage

RF-EMW:

Radio frequency electromagnetic wave

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the Natural Science Foundation of China (51821092), and other Projects (2016YFC0303303, 2017ZX05009-003, 2018E-2104, 2018E-2108, 2019F-3301, and 2019D-5008-09). This research is also supported by CNPC Engineering Technology R&D Company Limited.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNPC Engineering Technology R&D Company Limited, Beijing, 102206, China

    Zhengxu Wang, Qingfeng Guo, Qing Zhao, Hongwei Jiang, Wei Liu, Bo Li, Mu Li, Lei Liang & Xin Zhang

  2. MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China

    Deli Gao

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  1. Zhengxu Wang
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  2. Qingfeng Guo
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Correspondence to Zhengxu Wang.

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Wang, Z., Guo, Q., Gao, D. et al. Theoretical and Experimental Studies on the Performance of Radio Frequency Heating Oil Sands Based on the Phase Transition of Water. Arab J Sci Eng 47, 11039–11053 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-05635-2

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