WATER TREATMENT CHEMICAL FOCUS 

Water Treatment in SAGD: Current Prac>ces, Challenges, and Future 

Perspec>ves 

Subir BhaIacharjee  

NSERC Industrial Research Chair In Water Quality Management For Oil Sands Extrac>on,  

University Of Alberta Tel: 780 660 0616 

Email: Subir.B@ualberta.ca

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DiscussionPoints•  Understanding how op>miza>on of chemicals for the water treatment 

process throughout produc>on can increase the reliability and reduce opera>ng costs 

•  Looking into best prac>ces for the injec>on points of chemicals to op>mize the performance of water treatment technologies throughout the produc>on process 

•  Determining sufficient chemical dosages required to reduce the poten>al risk for harming another system in the recycle process 

•  Examining the required strengths of different types of ca>onic and ionic chemicals 

•  Understanding breakthrough discoveries from different chemical tes>ng methods

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OilSandsProjects

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SteamAssistedGravityDrainage(SAGD)

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80%qualitysteam@550psi

40–50%OOIPrecovery

Steam heats oil sands 

Heated bitumen flows to well 

SAGDandWaterUse

•  80%ofthe175–315billionbblofreservecanberecoveredusingin‐situ technologies.

•  Oneofthein‐situ recoverymethodsisSteamAssistedGravityDrainage(SAGD).

•  EachbarrelofbitumenproducedbySAGDrequiresabout3.0bblofwater(butonlyabout0.1‐0.5bbloffreshwater).

•  Produc:onof100,000barrelsofbitumenperdayrequireswatertreatmentcapacityofabout300,000bpd(~12.6MGD).

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SAGD plants are o/en called water 

treatment plants with bitumen as a 

byproduct 

WaterTreatmentProcesses

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WaterTreatmentcost:$3.60perm3.

OilWaterSepara:on

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WhyManipulateChemistry?

•  Toenhancephasesepara:onofoilandwaterfromemulsionsorreverseemulsions

•  Inhibitcorrosion•  Preventfouling/scaling•  Removesolids/silica,undesirableorganicsthroughcoagula:on/floccula:on

•  Removeions(so`ening)

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TheFundamentalIssue

•  Hightemperaturecanreducespecificity

•  SAGDproducedwatertemperaturesarehigh•  Temperatureneedstobeloweredforchemicaltreatmentstobespecific

•  Coolingcausesfouling/phasesegrega:onandhugelossofenergy

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CommonChemicalAddi:onPoints

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Challenges•  Freshwateravailabilityandquality

•  Largetemperaturevaria:onssolelyforwatertreatment

•  Shi`towardpackage/highpressureboilers(morestringentwatertreatment)

•  Policyshi`sregardingwateruseandwastedisposal

•  Highequipmentmaintenanceandopera:ngcosts

•  ReliabilityJanuary26,2011 OilSandsWaterManagementIni:a:ve 11

Poten:alSynergiesforImprovement

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Lackofacollabora:veplagormfortailoredchemistrydevelopment

RapidDiagnos:csandControl

•  Developautomatedprocessdiagnos:csandsensing

•  Determineop:maldosagesofchemicalsdynamically

•  Earlydetec:onofonsetofupsetcondi:ons(preventcostlydown:mes)

•  Sensetheproblem,notnecessarilymeasurethewaterchemistry

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Water‐in‐OilEmulsions

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Thin Liquid Film 

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MicrofluidicBoileTest

Water

Water

Oil

Electrode Channel Size <50 mic.

Bhaiacharjeeetal.AnalysisofThinLiquidFilms,Int.Pat#WO2007/095739A1;USPat12/280,154(Aug,2008).

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OilChannel(Hydrophobic)

WaterChannel

Electrode

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ThinLiquidFilmBreakupintheMicrofluidicChip

LecithinEmulsifier

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De‐Emulsifica:on

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BitumeninToluene(1:2bywt)

Maximum dewatering 

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ConcludingRemarks

•  Chemicalsare,andwillremain,integraltowaterqualitymanagementinsurfacetreatmentplants

•  Chemistryop:miza:onshouldinvolve–  Tailoringchemistrytoplant(moleculardesign)

– Handlinghightemperaturechemistrymoreefficiently–  Bufferingwaterchemistryfluctua:ons

– Adop:ngefficientprocessdiagnos:csandcontrolforchemicalupsets

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Acknowledgments

•  Students,researchers,collaborators,andcolleagues

•  Ourindustrypartners•  AWRI•  NSERC•  CRC•  UniversityofAlberta

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