Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, Vol.47, No.7, 40-47, 2008
Determining bitumen, water and solids in oil sands ore by using low-field NMR
In previous work, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been considered as a fast and non-destructive method to characterize oil and water. In this work, we continue to use the low-field NMR technique to determine the amount of bitumen, water and solids for unconsolidated oil sand ores from two different depositional environments. Simple T, cutoff and signal deconvolution are applied to the NMR spectra to estimate bitumen and water content. Comparison results are given. It has been found previously that, in most cases, the signals from clay-bound water and bitumen overlap; thus, the estimation of fluid content needs correction. To replace the well-known Dean-Stark extraction method, it is necessary to seek a fast, simple, non-destructive and inexpensive method. A densitometry technique, with simultaneous pore volume measurement, is developed to provide the volume of the ore sample and complement the NMR results. A density algorithm is introduced to determine fluid and solid content. Results from pore-volume measurements are comparable with those from Dean-Stark extraction and low-field NMR. A combined NMR-pore volume technique appears to minimize errors compared to Dean-Stark extraction.