RECOVERY OF A SASKATCHEWAN HEAVY OIL USING ALKALINE-SOLUTIONS

The feasibility of employing various alkaline agents (sodium hydroxide , sodium metasilicate and sodium orthosilicate) to enhance the recover y of a specific Saskatchewan heavy oil from the Kindersley region has been investigated. The dynamic interfacial tension behaviours of solut ions of these alkalis in contact with the crude oil were measured for a range of concentrations and temperatures, and the most interfacially active formulations were then tested for their oil recovery efficacie s by conducting oil displacement experiments in unconsolidated linear sand packs at 25-degrees-C and 65-degrees-C. The most promising of the three alkalis tested was found to be sodium hydroxide, which was capa ble of producing very significant enhancements in oil recovery relativ e to that obtained with pure waterflooding.