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Consortium for
The Consortium - Asphaltene & Emulsion Research (C-AER) is a research group of highly qualified faculty, research scientists and graduate students under direction of Dr. Harvey Yarranton and guided by an advisory committee of consortium members. C-AER was established in 2005 with a mandate to develop a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and physics that govern asphaltene-related flow assurance issues, particularly asphaltene precipitation, asphaltene deposition, and oilfield emulsions. A second objective was to provide highly trained graduates with a background in heavy oil. Since then the consortium has concentrated on two main areas: 1) the phase behavior of heavy oil and solvents; 2) rag layer formation from water-in-oil emulsions. Past projects include: ● Heavy Oil Characterization o Asphaltene and resin self-association o Measurement of heavy oil vapour pressure ● Phase Behavior and Physical Property Data o Asphaltene precipitation from blended or diluted heavy oil o Effect of water on asphaltene precipitation o Asphaltene precipitation in live oil depressurization o Phase envelopes in mixtures of heavy oil and solvents o Viscosity and density of diluted heavy oils ● Phase Behavior and Physical Property Modeling o Determination of EoS interaction parameters for heavy oil and solvents o Development of a viscosity correlation for diluted heavy oils ● Rag Layer Formation o Investigation of factors contributing to rag layer growth in oil sand froths o Design of apparatus to investigate rag layer growth in continuous flow In 2010, the consortium was transformed into the IRC in Heavy Oil Properties and Processing. Our vision remains to develop a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and physics that govern these issues, particularly phase behavior, physical properties, and oilfield emulsions. We acknowledge our original consortium members:
Oilphase-DBR
Product Center (Schlumberger) Ltd.
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