Experimental and numerical investigations into the effect of heterogeneities on the recovery of heavy oil by VAPour EXtraction (VAPEX)

Overall the rates estimated from the simulations were more comparable to the physical rates than those estimated from the original Butler-Mokrys analytical derivation. Moreover the simulator was able to capture the pattern of solvent-oil distribution for both homogeneous models and heterogeneous models. This would suggest that the Butler-Mokrys model does not properly describe all the physical processes that are controlling the oil drainage rate even in homogeneous models.