PSO-ANFIS modeling of viscosity for mixtures of Athabasca bitumen and a high-boiling n-alkane

The bitumen and heavy oil reservoirs are more in number than light crude oil reservoirs in the world. To increase the empty space between molecules and decrease viscosity, the bitumen was diluted with a liquid solvent such as tetradecane. Due to the sensitivity of enhanced oil recovery process, the accurate approximation for the viscosity of mentioned mixture is important. The purpose of this study was to develop an effective relation between the viscosity of Athabasca bitumen and heavy n-alkane mixtures based on pressure, temperature, and the weight percentage of n-tetradecane using the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system method. For this model, the value of MRE and R² was obtained as 0.34% and 1.00, respectively; so this model can be applied as an accurate approximation for any mixture of heavy oil with a liquid solvent.