In situ recovery of oil from Utah tar sand: a summary of tar sand research at the Laramie Energy Technology Center

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5415842· OSTI ID:5415842

Marchant, L C; Westhoff, J D

This report describes work done by the United States Department of Energy's Laramie Energy Technology Center from 1971 through 1982 to develop technology for future recovery of oil from US tar sands. Work was concentrated on major US tar sand deposits that are found in Utah. Major objectives of the program were as follows: determine the feasibility of in situ recovery methods applied to tar sand deposits; and establish a system for classifying tar sand deposits relative to those characteristics that would affect the design and operation of various in situ recovery processes. Contents of this report include: (1) characterization of Utah tar sand; (2) laboratory extraction studies relative to Utah tar sand in situ methods; (3) geological site evaluation; (4) environmental assessments and water availability; (5) reverse combustion field experiment, TS-1C; (6) a reverse combustion followed by forward combustion field experiment, TS-2C; (7) tar sand permeability enhancement studies; (8) two-well steam injection experiment; (9) in situ steam-flood experiment, TS-1S; (10) design of a tar sand field experiment for air-stream co-injection, TS-4; (11) wastewater treatment and oil analyses; (12) economic evaluation of an in situ tar sand recovery process; and (13) appendix I (extraction studies involving Utah tar sands, surface methods). 70 figs., 68 tabs.

• Research Organization: USDOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center, WV
• OSTI ID: 5415842
• Report Number(s): DOE/METC-86/2023; ON: DE86001059
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040201 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Site Geology-- (-1989)
040400* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Oil Production
Recovery
& Refining
040500 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Properties & Composition
040900 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Waste management
AIR
API GRAVITY
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
BITUMENS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CALORIFIC VALUE
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
COMMINUTION
DATA
DENSITY
DISTILLATION
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FIELD TESTS
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FRACTURING
FUELS
GAMMA LOGGING
GASES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGY
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IN-SITU COMBUSTION
IN-SITU PROCESSING
INFORMATION
LIQUID WASTES
MATERIALS
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OIL SAND DEPOSITS
OIL SANDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERMEABILITY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POUR POINT
PROCESSING
PRODUCTION
RADIOACTIVITY LOGGING
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
REVERSE COMBUSTION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
STEAM INJECTION
TAR
TESTING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
UTAH
WASTE WATER
WASTES
WATER
WATER TREATMENT
WELL LOGGING