| In situ combustion (ISC) and high-pressure air injection (HPAI) are enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes used to recover oil from both heavy and light oil reservoirs. These processes, especially in situ combustion, are quite complex, since they involve consideration of heat and mass transfer, phase behavior of oil, water and gas, as well as relative permeability effects.;This thesis outlines the study that was conducted in order to develop a better understanding of the Heats of Combustion (HOC) for three different types of crude oils and their respective Saturates, Aromatics, Resins and Asphaltenes (SARA) fractions, and the attempt to present an empirical equation to determine HOC for any crude oils.;The Linear Mixing Rule was applied to predict the heat of combustion for the three crude oils studied (Oil D, E and F). Two different equations were established (i.e. maltenes/asphaltenes binary equation and the SARA fraction four components equation). The HOCs resulting from the application of the mixing rule equations for the three oils were compared to the measured HOCs using the Bomb Calorimeter. These mixing rule equations did not hold true for the three crude oils studied (i.e. the predicted HOC differed from the experimental derived), which suggests that there might be a maltenes' sub-component interaction or minute amounts of left-over residue.;The final outcome of the study established an empirical equation that uses only the SARA fraction mass compositions. This SARA fraction empirical equation has proven to be a reliable and simple method to determine the heat of combustion for different crude oils, compared to the existing elemental composition empirical equations for nine crude oils. |
