1887

Abstract

Summary

Foams for enhanced oil recovery can increase sweep efficiency, as they decrease the gas relative permeability, mainly due to gas trapping. However, gas trapping mechanisms are poorly understood. Some studies have been performed during corefloods, but little work has been carried out to describe the bubble trapping behaviour at the pore scale.

Microfluidic experiments are a useful tool for studying the foam flow behavior at the pore scale. We have carried out foam flow tests in a model porous media glass micromodel. Image analysis of the foam flow allowed local velocities to be obtained. The quantity of trapped gas was measured both by considering the fraction of bubbles that were trapped (via velocity thresholding) and by measuring the area fraction containing immobile gas (via image analysis). A decrease in the trapped gas fraction was observed both for increasing total velocity and for increasing foam quality.

Calculations of the gas relative permeability were made with the Brooks Corey equation, using the measured trapped gas saturations. The results showed a decrease in gas relative permeabilities for increasing fractions of trapped gas. It is suggested that the shear thinning behaviour of foam could be coupled to the saturation of trapped gas.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201700338
2017-04-24
2024-03-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Eftekhari, A.A. Krastev, R. and Farajzadeh, R.
    [2015] Foam stabilized by fly ash nanoparticles for Enhancing Oil Recovery. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 54, 12482–12491
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Ettinger, R.A. and Radke, C.J.
    [1992] Influence of texture on steady foam flow in Berea sandstone. SPE Reserv. Eng. 7, 83–90.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Falls, A. H., Musters, J. J. and Ratulowski, J.
    [1989] The apparent viscosity of foams in homogeneous bead packs. SPE Reservoir Engineering4, 155–164.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Friedmann, F., Chen, W. H. and Gauglitz, P. A.
    [1991] Experimental and simulation study of high-temperature foam displacement in porous media. SPE Reservoir Engineering6, 37–45.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Jones, S.A., Getrouw, N. and Vincent-Bonnieu, S.
    [2017] Foam coarsening: Behaviour and consequences in a model porous medium. 19th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, P033
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Kapetas, L. Vincent-Bonnieu, S., Farajzadeh, R., Eftekhari, A.A., Mohd-Shafian, S.R., Kamarul Bahrim, R.Z. and Rossen, W.R.
    [2015] Effect of permeability on foam-model parameters - An integrated approach from coreflood experiments through to foam diversion calculations. IOR 2015 -18th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Dresden.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Kil, R.A., Nguyen, Q.P. and Rossen, W.R.
    [2011] Determining trapped gas in foam from computed-tomography images. SPE Journal16, 24–34.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Kovscek, A.R. and Bertin, H.J.
    [2003] Foam mobility in heterogeneous porous media - I: Scaling concepts. Transport in Porous Media52, 17–35.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Kovscek, A. R., Patzek, T. W. and Radke, C. J.
    [1994] Mechanistic prediction of foam displacement in multidimensions: A population balance approach. SPE/DOE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium, Tulsa, Oklahoma, SPE-27789-MS.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Lake, L.W., Johns, R.T., Rossen, W.R. and Pope, G.A.
    [2014] Fundamentals of Enhanced Oil Recovery. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Ma, K., Liontas, R., Conn, C.A., Hirasaki, G.J. and Biswal, S.L.
    [2012] Visualization of improved sweep with foam in heterogeneous porous media using microfluidics. Soft Matter8, 10669–10675.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Manlowe, D. and Radke, C.
    [1990] A pore-level investigation of foam / oil interactions in porous media. SPE Reservoir Engineering5, 495–502.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Nonnekes, L.E., Cox, S.J. and Rossen, W.R.
    [2014] Effect of gas diffusion on mobility of foam for enhanced oil recovery. Transport in Porous Media106, 669–689.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Nguyen, Q. P., Rossen, W. R., Zitha, P. L. J. and Currie, P. K.
    [2009] Determination of gas trapping with foam using X-Ray computed tomography and effluent analysis. SPE Journal14, 222–236.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Prud’homme, R. K.
    [1995] Foams: Theory, Measurements, Applications (Vol. 57). CRC Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Radke, C. J. and Gillis, J. V.
    [1990] A dual gas tracer technique for determining trapped gas saturation during steady foam flow in porous media. SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, SPE-20519-MS.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Rasband, W.S., ImageJ
    , U. S. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/, 1997–2016.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Schramm, L.L.
    [1994] Foams: Fundamentals and Applications in the Petroleum Industry (Vol. 242). American Chemical Society.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Tang, G.-Q. and Kovscek, A.R.
    [2006] Trapped gas fraction during steady-state foam flow. Transport in Porous Media65, 287–307.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201700338
Loading
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201700338
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error