Effect of Temperature and Pressure on Contact Angle and Interfacial Tension of Quartz/Water/Bitumen Systems

Abstract

Summary Thermal-recovery methods (e.g., steam injection) are commonly used to recover bitumen from oil sands. The injected steam contacts the oil sand and forms an interface. The steam changes to water, transferring its heat to bitumen across this interface. The heated bitumen will have a lower viscosity, which allows for oil to be mobilized and recovered from the reservoir. Studies that explain hot-water/bitumen interfaces are crucial for understanding thermal-recovery methods. The strength and energy of hot-water/bitumen interfaces are expected to play important roles in the recovery of bitumen from oil sands. However, measurements on hot-water/bitumen interfaces are scarce in the literature. A relevant measurement would be the contact angle and interfacial tension (IFT) of the water/bitumen interfaces at different temperatures. In this paper, it has been attempted to reveal and present the results of several water/bitumen contact-angle and IFT measurements. The measurements cover a temperature range from ambient to 100°C for a given pressure. The experiments are run in X-ray transparent cells, and images are taken using a microcomputed-tomography (microCT) scanner. The results of contact angle and the IFTs of the hot-water/bitumen interface are produced by using the axisymmetric drop shape-analysis (ADSA) method.