Process for treating water in heavy oil production using coated heat exchange units

1. A process for treating a water stream produced in the recovery of heavy oil from geological formations comprising:

a) injecting steam or warm water underground into a geological formation containing hydrocarbons and establishing a steam chamber;

b) transferring heat from said steam chamber to said formation and mobilizing hydrocarbons for extraction from said formation;

c) extracting said mobilized hydrocarbons from said formation and said hydrocarbons forming an emulsion with a portion of condensed water formed from said steam;

d) separating mobilized hydrocarbons as a heavy oil product from said hydrocarbon-water emulsion to produce a water stream containing foulants that include residual hydrocarbons and solids;

e) passing said water stream through a heat exchange unit comprising at least one tube wherein said tube has a multi-layer coating comprising a melt flowable copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene adhered to the interior surface or exterior surface of said tube, wherein said multi-layer coating is adhered to the interior surface or exterior surface of said tube by applying a primer layer to the surface of said tube; disposing an overcoat on top of said primer layer, wherein said overcoat comprises multiple layers including a lower layer and an upper layer and wherein said upper layer has an exterior anti-stick surface consisting essentially of baked perfluoropolymer; and

f) removing said foulants from said water stream while altering the temperature of said water stream as said water stream passes through said heat exchange unit; wherein said multi-layer coating provides an anti-stick surface that reduces the deposition of foulants, on the interior or exterior surface of said tube as compared to the surface of said tube without said multi-layer coating being present, so as to avoid loss of efficiency in heat transfer and pluggage of said heat exchange unit.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the water stream containing said foulants comprises about 500 ppm hydrocarbons to about 25,000 ppm hydrocarbons.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the temperature of said water stream is altered in one or more heat exchange units by an amount of at least about 25° C. as said stream passes through said heat exchange unit.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein the temperature of said water stream is altered by reducing the temperature of said water stream in one or more heat exchange units from about 220° C. to about 70° C.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein the flow of said water stream through said heat exchange unit is from about 1 ft/s (0.3 m/s) to about 5 ft/s (1.5 m/s).

6. The process of claim 1 wherein the contact angle of said coating with respect to bitumen is at least about 35 degrees.

7. The process of claim 1 wherein the coated tube has a corrosion resistance as measured by Atlas Cell of at least about 15 days.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein said multi-layer coating is applied as a liquid composition by spraying the interior or exterior of the tube.

9. The process of claim 1 wherein said lower layer of said overcoat comprises a plurality of particles which provide a mechanical barrier against permeation of water to the tube.

10. The process of claim 1 further including the step of removing contaminants from the interior or exterior surface of the tube by cleaning said interior or exterior surface and roughening the cleaned interior or exterior surface prior to adhering said multi-layer coating.

11. The process of claim 1 wherein the heat exchange unit comprises at least one tube having an inner diameter of about 0.375 in (0.95 cm) to about 2.0 in (5.1 cm).

12. The process of claim 1 wherein said tube having a multi layer coating has a thermal conductivity that remains at or above about 0.3 W/m-K over the temperature range of from about 25° to about 260° C.

13. The process of claim 1 wherein said multi-layer coating provides an anti-stick surface that reduces the deposition of residual hydrocarbons, solids and foulants, on the interior or exterior surface of said tube by at least 40% as compared to the surface of said tube without said multi-layer coating being present.