An Analytical Study of Heat and Mass Transfer Within an Oil Sand Bed

Abstract

The physical processes that occur typically within an oil sand bed are considered when the bed is subjected to a hot gaseous stream. In this study, the extent of fluid volatilization was obtained from a consideration of the simultaneous heat and mass transfer processes within the oil sands. The resulting system of equations together with the boundary conditions were solved numerically using an implicit finite difference method. The transient fluid concentration and temperature distributions within the oil sand bed were then obtained under a wide range of operating conditions. The resulting theoretical rates of volatilization and temperatures show generally good agreement with corresponding experimental values that were obtained for the purpose.