Semester
Spring
Date of Graduation
2017
Document Type
Problem/Project Report
Degree Type
MS
College
Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
Department
Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering
Committee Chair
Kashy Aminian
Committee Co-Chair
Radhey Sharma
Committee Member
Sam Ameri
Committee Member
P.V. Vijay
Abstract
With easy oil recovered all across the world, the oil fields are depleting and extraction of heavy oil is becoming more important. The exploration and drilling of new fields is expensive and time intensive. With most of the oil remaining is heavy and viscous; Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods are followed. Thermal EOR is the most widely used method in which steam injection is the most popular. Every year natural gas is burnt to produce steam and this amount is increasing as heavy oil reserves are developing all across the world. With increase in technological advancements and goal of reducing carbon emissions, solar energy is used to produce steam for the injection. This technology is called solar wells. The main objective is highlighting the cost of steam produced by natural gas and solar wells and finding investment, installation, operation and maintenance costs of these generators. Further, analyzing these costs, recommendations are made if new technology (solar wells) is worth the investment.
Recommended Citation
Dwivedy, Abha, "Steam generation by solar and natural gas generators for thermal enhanced oil recovery" (2017). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 3990.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/3990