Efficient Simulation and Analysis of the Effects of Permeability on the In-Situ Combustion of Heavy Oils

Abstract

The simulation of the In Situ Combustion (ISC) process is a very challenging process due to the complexity and non-linear nature of the problem. In this work, we propose an efficient technique to simulate experimental procedures for the ISC process including heterogeneity. The effects of permeability on mass flow and heat transfer were studied through a series of numerical frameworks. Different approaches to model the reactions occurring during combustion were attempted and simulation results were validated using experimental results. We focus on two different key areas: the integration of chemical reaction kinetics obtained through kinetic cell experiments, and the analysis of efficient simulations of combustion tube experiments that account for the flow element. After establishing a robust framework that accurately matches lab-scale results, combustion tube simulation results using a commercial simulator were analyzed to corroborate conclusions. Through observing the propagation of the combustion front and the oil bank in heterogeneous zones, assessments around the effects of permeability on the ISC process were performed. This work provides valuable information that would be instrumental in understanding experimental behavior of in-situ combustion and upgrading results to field scale after matching numerical results with experimental data collected in our future work.