UNIVERSITY of CALGARY Characterization of Oil Sands
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UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Characterization of Oil Sands Tailings Using Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Technique by Sandra Carolina Motta Cabrera A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND PETROLEUM ENGINEERING CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2008 © Sandra Carolina Motta Cabrera 2008 ISBN: 978-0-494-44621-8 Dedication Gracias a ti por prestarme siempre tus maravillosos lentes rosados Gracias a ti por seguir queriendo estar Gracias a ti por estar siempre en mis más lindos recuerdos Gracias a ti por ser mi par mejorado Gracias a ti por mostrarme tu lado amoroso Gracias a ti por enseñarme que siempre puedo aprender Gracias a ti por ser mis hermosas alas Gracias a ti por seguir a mi lado entendiendo amaneceres y atardeceres Abstract The oil sands mining and extraction processes in Canada produce large volumes of tailings that are a mixture of mainly water, clay, sand, chemicals and bitumen. This mixture is transported to tailings ponds, where gravity segregation occurs. During this process, a stable suspension called mature fine tailings (MFT) is formed, which requires many years to fully consolidate. Therefore, land reclamation and water recirculation become significant environmental issues. For this reason, it is important to understand the tailings content and their settling properties. This study uses the low field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technique to estimate the composition of tailings samples, through a bimodal compositional detection method. Tailings settling characteristics were also studied in the absence and presence of the typical chemical substances used in the industry to accelerate settling. The results show that the NMR technique can be a potential on-site fast measurement of composition and settling characteristics of tailings. iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Apostolos Kantzas for all his support during the development of my Master’s degree. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the staff at the Tomographic Imaging and Porous Media (TIPM) Laboratory, especially to my friend Jonathan Bryan and Sergey Kryuchkov. The advice and aid from Brad Komishke and his team from Shell Canada, particularly Eva Anfort, Jill Armstrong and Lauren Asplund, are gratefully acknowledged. The collaboration of Dr. Pedro Pereira and Dr. Harvey Yarranton from the University of Calgary is also appreciated. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Canada Research Chair in Energy and Imaging affiliates (Shell, Nexen, Devon, PetroCanada, Canadian Natural, ET Energy, Suncor, Schlumberger, Laricina, Paramount, CMG Foundation and ConoccoPhillips) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for funding this research. iv Table of Contents Dedication........................................................................................................................... ii Abstract.............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents.................................................................................................................v List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures..................................................................................................................... x List of Symbols, Abbreviations and Nomenclature........................................................ xvii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................1 1.1 Statement of Problem.................................................................................................1 1.2 Proposal .....................................................................................................................3 1.3 Methodology..............................................................................................................4 1.4 Organization of the Thesis.........................................................................................5 CHAPTER 2: FUNDAMENTALS OF THE NMR TECHNIQUE.....................................6 2.2 NMR Physics .............................................................................................................7 2.2.1 Spin and the Effect of Magnetic Fields on Protons ................................................7 2.2.2 Longitudinal and Transverse Relaxation Times .....................................................9 2.3 NMR Parameters......................................................................................................12 2.4 Relaxation Mechanisms in Fluids............................................................................14 2.4.1 Bulk Relaxation ....................................................................................................14 2.4.2 Surface Relaxation................................................................................................15 2.4.3 Diffusion Relaxation.............................................................................................16 2.5 Processing of NMR Data .........................................................................................17 2.6 Other Important Relationships.................................................................................19 2.6.1 Amplitude Index (AI) ...........................................................................................19 2.6.2 Geometric Mean of Relaxation Time (T2gm) ........................................................20 2.6.3 Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).................................................................................21 2.7 Previous Work in Oil Sands Using NMR Technique..............................................21 CHAPTER 3: OIL SANDS AND TAILINGS PROPERTIES.........................................25 3.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................25 3.2 Oil Sands Characteristics.........................................................................................27 3.2.1 Oil Sands Structure ...............................................................................................28 3.2.2 Bitumen Characteristics........................................................................................29 3.2.3 Mineral Solids Characteristics..............................................................................30 3.2.4 Connate Water Characteristics..............................................................................30 3.3 Bitumen Extraction from Oil Sands Process ...........................................................31 3.3.1 Mining of Oil Sands..............................................................................................31 3.3.2. Oil Sands Conditioning........................................................................................31 3.3.3 Digestion of Oil Sands Lumps, Bitumen Liberation and Aeration.......................33 3.3.4 Separation of the Aerated Bitumen Aggregates from the Water-Solids Slurry....33 v 3.3.5 Bitumen Flotation .................................................................................................34 3.3.6 Froth Treatment ....................................................................................................34 3.3.7 Tailings Management ...........................................................................................35 3.4 Tailings Characteristics and Disposal......................................................................39 3.4.1 Water Chemistry of Fine Tailings ........................................................................40 3.4.2 Settling of the Fine Tailings Suspension ..............................................................42 3.5 Technologies Developed to Improve Tailings Management...................................43 3.5.1 Consolidated Tailings (CT) Process .....................................................................44 3.5.2 Paste Technology..................................................................................................48 3.5.3 Synergy of CT Process and Paste technology ......................................................50 3.6 Summary..................................................................................................................51 CHAPTER 4: DEVELOPMENT OF A NMR BIMODAL COMPOSITIONAL DETECTION METHOD TO CHARACTERIZE TAILINGS SAMPLES..............53 4.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................53 4.2 Instrumentation ........................................................................................................54 4.3 Materials ..................................................................................................................55 4.4 Methodology............................................................................................................56 4.5 Sweet Spot Location ................................................................................................59 4.6 Calibration of the NMR Tool...................................................................................60