Measurements and Correlations of Thermophysical Properties for Multicomponent Solvent/Live Bitumen Mixtures

Abstract

We report new measurements and correlations of the density, viscosity, solubility, and K-values of multicomponent solvent/live bitumen systems with applications to the solvent-aided thermal recovery of bitumen. The density, viscosity, solubility, and K-values of live bitumen and a multicomponent solvent composed of n-C4, n-C5, n-C6, n-C8, and n-C10 were measured at a pressure range of 1–6 MPa and a temperature range of 343.15–503.15 K. A systematic approach is presented that can be adapted for the construction of input PVT models for thermal reservoir simulations. The measured data are correlated with the temperature- and pressure-dependent correlations used in commercial thermal reservoir simulators. Accepted agreements were found between all the predicted properties and experimental data of the multicomponent solvent/live bitumen system. The data and the parametrization approach find applications in the design and optimization of solvent-aided thermal recovery of bitumen.