Modeling Polymer Enhanced Foam Flow in Porous Media Using An Improved Population-Balance Foam Model

Description of Foam Flow in Porous Media by the Population Balance Method

ACS Symposium Series - Surfactant-Based Mobility Control ◽

10.1021/bk-1988-0373.ch016 ◽

1988 ◽

pp. 326-341 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

T. W. Patzek

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Population Balance ◽

Balance Method ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Foam Flow

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Modeling Techniques for Foam Flow in Porous Media

SPE Journal ◽

10.2118/169104-pa ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (03) ◽

pp. 453-470 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Kun Ma ◽

Guangwei Ren ◽

Khalid Mateen ◽

Danielle Morel ◽

Philippe Cordelier

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Relative Permeability ◽

Population Balance ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Fractional Flow ◽

Foam Flow ◽

Foam Generation ◽

Modeling Techniques ◽

Foam Modeling ◽

Gas Mobility

Summary Foam, a dispersion of gas in liquid, has been investigated as a tool for gas-mobility and conformance control in porous media for a variety of applications since the late 1950s. These applications include enhanced oil recovery, matrix-acidization treatments, gas-leakage prevention, as well as contaminated-aquifer remediation. To understand the complex physics of foam in porous media and to implement foam processes in a more-controllable way, various foam-modeling techniques were developed in the past 3 decades. This paper reviews modeling approaches obtained from different publications for describing foam flow through porous media. Specifically, we tabulate models on the basis of their respective characteristics, including implicit-texture as well as mechanistic population-balance foam models. In various population-balance models, how foam texture is obtained and how gas mobility is altered as a function of foam texture, among other variables, are presented and compared. It is generally understood that both the gas relative permeability and viscosity vary in the reduction of gas mobility through foam generation in porous media. However, because the two parameters appear together in the Darcy equation, different approaches were taken to alter the mobility in the various models: only reduction of gas relative permeability, increasing of effective gas viscosity, or a combination of both. The applicability and limitations of each approach are discussed. How various foam-generation mechanisms play a role in the foam-generation function in mechanistic models is also discussed in this review, which is indispensable to reconcile the findings from different publications. In addition, other foam-modeling methods, such as the approaches that use fractional-flow theory and those that use percolation theory, are also reviewed in this work. Several challenges for foam modeling, including model selection and enhancement, fitting parameters to data, modeling oil effect on foam behavior, and scaling up of foam models, are also discussed at the end of this paper.

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Modeling Foam Displacement with the Local-Equilibrium Approximation: Theory and Experimental Verification

SPE Journal ◽

10.2118/116735-pa ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 15 (01) ◽

pp. 171-183 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

Q.. Chen ◽

M.G.. G. Gerritsen ◽

A.R.. R. Kovscek

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Local Equilibrium ◽

Population Balance ◽

Entrance Region ◽

Balance Model ◽

Population Balance Model ◽

Gas Bubble ◽

Foam Generation ◽

Foam Model ◽

Bubble Sizes

Summary The gas-mobility-control aspects of foamed gas make it highly applicable for improved oil recovery. Gas-bubble size, often referred to as foam texture, determines gas-flow behavior in porous media. A population-balance model has been developed previously for modeling foam texture and flow in porous media. The model incorporates pore-level mechanisms of foam-bubble generation, coalescence, and transport. Here, we propose a simplified foam model to reduce computational costs. The formulation is based on the assumption of local equilibrium of foam generation and coalescence and is applicable to high- and low-quality foams. The proposed foam model is compatible with a standard reservoir simulator. It provides a potentially useful, efficient tool to predict foam flows accurately at the field scale for designing and managing foamed-gas applications. There are three main contributions of this paper. First, foam-displacement experiments in a linear sandstone core are conducted. A visualization cell is employed to measure the effluent foam-bubble sizes for a transient flow as well as to estimate the in-situ foam-bubble sizes along the length of the core during steady-state flow. These appear to be the first measurements of foam-bubble texture in the entrance region of a core. Additionally, the evolution of aqueous-phase saturation is monitored using X-ray computed tomography (CT), and the pressure profile is measured by a series of pressure taps. Second, the population-balance representation of foam generation by gas-bubble snap-off is modified to extend the capability of the population-balance approach to predict foam-flow behaviors in both the so-called high-quality and low-quality regimes. Third, a simplified population-balance model is developed and implemented with the local-equilibrium approximation. Good agreement is found between the experimental results and the predictions of the simplified model, with a minor mismatch in the entrance region.

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Effect Of Gas Type On Foam Film Permeability And Its Implications For Foam Flow In Porous Media

10.2118/131297-ms ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Rouhollah Farajzadeh ◽

RM Muruganathan ◽

Rumen Krastev ◽

William Richard Rossen

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Foam Flow ◽

Foam Film

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A CT Scan Study of Immiscible Foam Flow in Porous Media for EOR

10.2118/155633-ms ◽

2012 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mohammad Simjoo ◽

Yufei Dong ◽

Alexey Andrianov ◽

Mohand Talanana ◽

Pacelli L.J. Zitha

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Ct Scan ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Foam Flow

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The Streaming Potential and the Rheology of Foam

Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal ◽

10.2118/1748-pa ◽

1967 ◽

Vol 7 (04) ◽

pp. 359-368 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

S.H. Raza ◽

S.S. Marsden

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Apparent Viscosity ◽

Streaming Potential ◽

Newtonian Fluids ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Flow Rates ◽

Foaming Agents ◽

Streaming Potentials ◽

Foam Flow ◽

Order Of Magnitude

Abstract An experimental study of the flow of fine-textured, aqueous foams through Pyrex tubes is described. The foams range in quality F (ratio of gas volume to total volume) from 0.70 to 0.96 and behave like pseudoplastic fluids. At lower flow rates they exhibit laminar flow and have apparent viscosities which increase with quality, and which cover a range of 15 cp to 255 poise for tubes of 0.25- to 1.50-mm radius ri. At higher flow rates a plug-like type of flow is developed, the extent of which increases with both and ri. When the same foams flow through either open or packed Pyrex tubes, remarkably high streaming potentials phi E are often generated. These can easily reach 50v if nonionic foaming agents are used, but are at least an order of magnitude less for ionic foaming agents. A linear relationship between phi E and the pressure differential phi p is observed; this usually extrapolates to positive values of phi p at phi E of zero. The slope of the line increases with both F and ri. An equation was derived to describe the streaming potential of non-Newtonian fluids in circular tubes and was used to correlate experimental results. The calculated potential is are of the right order of magnitude. Introduction Foams are both unusual and intriguing in their physical properties, and have been the subject of many scientific studies. However, present knowledge of foams is still fragmentary, specific and often contradictory. Apparent viscosity of foam is the physical property of greatest interest to both rheologists and engineers. Sibree reported that the apparent viscosity decreased with increasing shear rate in a manner similar to some non-Newtonian fluids. Penny and Blackman reported that fire-fighting foams had both a limiting shear stress and a tensile yield stress. There is little doubt that some foams at least behave like non-Newtonian fluids, and have apparent viscosities considerably higher than those of either constituent phase. The high apparent viscosity of foam with its concomitant effect on mobility ratio and sweep efficiency no doubt prompted several attempts by research groups to use foam as a displacing agent in porous media. Based on recent experience, most of these groups probably succeeded in completely blocking fluid flow in the porous media and then abandoned their efforts. Two groups apparently found the successful combination of experimental parameters at about the same time. Others have recently added to our knowledge-of foam flow in porous media and its use as a displacing agent. An experimental problem encountered by Fried was a transient blockage of foam flow in porous media when distilled water was used to prepare the foam-producing solution. Fried surmised that this was due to an electrokinetic effect and he eliminated it by using electrolytes in preparing foaming solutions. He also measured the streaming potential of a number of foams in capillary tubes which he found to be appreciably higher than those obtained when the constituent liquid flowed under comparable conditions. This paper presents results of a more comprehensive study of the streaming potential generated by aqueous foam flowing in both open and packed Pyrex tubes. It also adds to knowledge of the rheology of these foams as deduced from their flow behavior in open tubes. APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE A diagram of the apparatus used is shown in Fig. 1. Details of its construction, testing and use are described elsewhere. Careful selection of materials, extreme cleanliness and rather elaborate electrical insulation and shielding were necessary to obtain reproducible results (15 percent). Both streaming potential and streaming current were measured with an electrometer. The design of the foam generator developed for this work is novel (Fig. 2). SPEJ P. 359ˆ

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