Gas Permeability of Coal Beds and Thermochemical Recovery of Viscous Oil
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- With increasing demand for energy worldwide, the price of crude oil and natural gas has risen dramatically. Under such circumstances, unconventional oil and gas recovery has increased in importance. These unconventional oil and gas resources include heavy oil, oil in complex reservoirs, and coalbed methane. Coalbed methane (CBM) is found in deep, unmineable coal seams. Coal bed gases usually contain roughly 90% CH4 and trace amounts of ethane, propane, butane, car- bon dioxide and nitrogen. Hence, CBM is a very clean burning fuel. Currently, CBM is mainly recovered by primary recovery methods, in which only 20% to 60% of the gas is produced and a large amount of water is produced. Injection of N2 and/or CO2 is of substantial interest as an enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) recovery method. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the coal matrix swells/shrinks with ad- sorption/desorption of gas on the coal surface. In turn, the permeability of the coal beds is aÆected. Experiments were performed to measure the permeability change of a coal pack with injection of diÆerent gases and gas mixtures. Multicomponent adsorption was then calculated using the extended Langmuir isotherm to see the relationship between the amount of adsorption and the evolution of permeability. Similarly, heavy oil is an unconventional resource of great interest. Many methods for heavy-oil recovery have been developed and studied in the past few decades. Several heavy-oil EOR methods, either commonly used or newly becoming popular, were investigated in our study. A feasibility simulation study was done using CMG STARS to understand opportunities for EOR (enhanced oil recovery) in Ugnu-like reservoirs. A simple economic analysis was also performed, and it suggests that heavy oil can be recovered economically.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | June 2006 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Lin, Wenjuan |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Kovscek, Anthony R. |
| Advisor | Castanier, Louis |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Department of Petroleum Engineering |
Subjects
| Subject | School of Earth Energy & Environmental Sciences |
|---|---|
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Lin, Wenjuan. (2006). Gas Permeability of Coal Beds and Thermochemical Recovery of Viscous Oil. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/br878mj3523
Collection
Master's Theses, Doerr School of Sustainability
View other items in this collection in SearchWorksContact information
- Contact
- brannerlibrary@stanford.edu
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...