A network model for capture of emulsion droplets in porous media

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Changhong Gao

Capture of emulsion droplets in porous media can be costly or beneficial. When produced water is injected into reservoir for pressure maintenance, the oil droplets in produced water can plug reservoir rocks and cause the well to lose injectivity. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology takes advantage of this feature and plugs high-injectivity zones with emulsions. Previous studies reveal that interception and straining are the mechanisms of permeability decline. Established models rely on filtration data to determine key parameters. In this work, a network model is proposed to simulate capture of oil droplets in reservoir rocks and resultant permeability reduction. The model is validated with test data and reasonably good results are obtained. The simulation also reveals that the wettability of the tested porous media was altered by injection of emulsions. The new approach considers the characteristics of the porous media and incorporates the damage mechanisms, thus providing more scientific insights into the flow and capture of droplets in porous media.

Author(s):  
Jianlong Xiu ◽  
Tianyuan Wang ◽  
Ying Guo ◽  
Qingfeng Cui ◽  
Lixin Huang ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuan Lu ◽  
Wei Zhao ◽  
Yongge Liu ◽  
Xiaohu Dong

Oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions are expected to be formed in the process of surfactant flooding for heavy oil reservoirs in order to strengthen the fluidity of heavy oil and enhance oil recovery. However, there is still a lack of detailed understanding of mechanisms and effects involved in the flow of O/W emulsions in porous media. In this study, a pore-scale transparent model packed with glass beads was first used to investigate the transport and retention mechanisms of in situ generated O/W emulsions. Then, a double-sandpack model with different permeabilities was used to further study the effect of in situ formed O/W emulsions on the improvement of sweep efficiency and oil recovery. The pore-scale visualization experiment presented an in situ emulsification process. The in situ formed O/W emulsions could absorb to the surface of pore-throats, and plug pore-throats through mechanisms of capture-plugging (by a single emulsion droplet) and superposition-plugging or annulus-plugging (by multiple emulsion droplets). The double-sandpack experiments proved that the in situ formed O/W emulsion droplets were beneficial for the mobility control in the high permeability sandpack and the oil recovery enhancement in the low permeability sandpack. The size distribution of the produced emulsions proved that larger pressures were capable to displace larger O/W emulsion droplets out of the pore-throat and reduce their retention volumes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 57 (43) ◽  
pp. 14637-14647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasser M. Al Hinai ◽  
A. Saeedi ◽  
Colin D. Wood ◽  
Matthew Myers ◽  
R. Valdez ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abiola Oyatobo ◽  
Amalachukwu Muoghalu ◽  
Chinaza Ikeokwu ◽  
Wilson Ekpotu

Abstract Ineffective methods of increasing oil recovery have been one of the challenges, whose solutions are constantly sought after in the oil and gas industry as the number of under-produced reservoirs increases daily. Water injection is the most extended technology to increase oil recovery, although excessive water production can pose huge damage ranging from the loss of the well to an increase in cost and capital investment requirement of surface facilities to handle the produced water. To mitigate these challenges and encourage the utilization of local contents, locally produced polymers were used in polymer flooding as an Enhanced Oil Recovery approach to increase the viscosity of the injected fluids for better profile control and reduce cost when compared with foreign polymers as floppan. Hence this experimental research was geared towards increasing the efficiency of oil displacement in sandstone reservoirs using locally sourced polymers in Nigeria and also compared the various polymers for optimum efficiency. Starch, Ewedu, and Gum Arabic were used in flooding an already obtained core samples and comparative analysis of this shows that starch yielded the highest recovery due to higher viscosity value as compared to Ewedu with the lowest mobility ratio to Gum Arabic. Finally, the concentration of Starch or Gum Arabic should be increased for optimum recovery.


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