This paper (SPE 113936) was accepted for presentation at the SPE/DOE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Tulsa, 20–23 April 2008, and revised for publication. Original manuscript received for review 20 February 2008. Revised manuscript received for review 23 March 2009. Paper peer approved 8 September 2009. Summary Design of an alkaline/surfactant/polymer (ASP) process requires knowledge of the...

Naphthenic acids (NAs) are natural constituents in many petroleum sources, including bitumen in the oil sands of Northern Alberta, Canada. Bitumen extraction processes produce tailings waters that cannot be discharged to the environment because NAs are acutely toxic to aquatic species. However, aerobic biodegradation reduces the toxic character of NAs. In this study, four commercial NAs and the...

We report a new method for rapid measurement of total acid number (TAN) and TAN boiling point (BP) distribution for petroleum crude and products. The technology is based on negative ion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) for selective ionization of petroleum acid and quantification of acid structures and molecular weight distributions. A chip-based nanoelectrospray system enable...

In similar experiments conducted in 1996 and 2009, yellow perch (Perca flavescens) were stocked into two experimental systems: a demonstration lake where oil sands fine tailings were capped with natural water and a lake in a watershed containing bitumen-bearing sodic clays. In both experiments, yellow perch were captured in May from a nearby reservoir and released into the experimental ponds. P...

Abstract The correct description of crude oil/water interfaces is a very complex and an important task, particularly to the oil industry, whose main difficulty relies on understanding how interfacial properties (i.e., tension accumulation) system are affected by large number components. To give some additional insight behavior, eleven mixtures six binary, four ternary quaternary mixture) have b...