Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures
April 2012
Executive Summary
Producers participating in the Clean Bitumen Technology Action Plan (CBTAP) chose to examine the current state of the art in reservoir models at lab-scale and how these models accommodate the mechanisms involved in various in situ recovery processes. The models of interest are those focused on two main geological features:
An artificial reservoir, which would be a large physical model facility to evaluate heavy oil and bitumen recovery technologies, may offer substantially better performance than existing models, may reduce the cost and would accelerate the pace of technology development, for the benefit of industry and governments. The scope of work includes examining the current state of the art for laboratory scale reservoir models and how these models accommodate the mechanisms involved in various in situ recovery processes.
The assessment was also used to suggest an approach to bridge the gap between current models and new functional models to meet the requirements of industry. Finally, this assessment should provide the necessary informational framework for a workshop contemplated by PTAC to explore the potential for larger scale models.