Model studies of alkaline hot water drive in Nigerian tar sands

Abstract Model experiments have been used to evaluate the prospects for recovering bitumen from Nigerian tar sands by alkaline hot water drive. This involves injection of 0.04 wt % caustic solution into linear bitumen-bearing sandpacks at elevated temperature (25 - 80°C). Data obtained revealed a bitumen recovery of up to 15% at 50°C, representing an increase of about 5percnt; over the recovery at 27°C. At higher temperatures(>50°C) however, a decline in the cumulative bitumen production was observed. These results showed a remarkable correlation with the kinetic data obtained from a proposed numerical process model.