Foam-improved oil recovery: Modelling the effect of an increase in injection pressure

Hernández, Elizabeth Mas; Grassia, Paul; Shokri, Nima

doi:10.1140/epje/i2015-15067-6

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The unrecovered oil becomes trapped in the reservoir forming discontinuous or continuous phase in swept or unswept zones of the reservoirs, respectively [ Grassia et al ., ; Sahimi , ]. The amount of trapped oil and the size of the trapped blobs depend on a variety of parameters including (but not limited to) wettability, injection rate, physical and chemical properties of the displacing and displaced fluid, presence of heterogeneity, pore size distribution, the pore‐to‐throat ratio (aspect ratio), and the topology of the pore networks [ Joekar ‐ Niasar et al ., ; Joekar‐Niasar , ; Mas‐Hernandez et al ., ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study on nonmonotonicity of Capillary Desaturation Curves in a 2‐D pore network

Castro

Shokri

Karadimitriou

et al. 2015

Water Resources Research

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Immiscible displacement in porous media is important in many applications such as soil remediation and enhanced oil recovery. When gravitational forces are negligible, two‐phase immiscible displacement at the pore level is controlled by capillary and viscous forces whose relative importance is quantified through the dimensionless capillary number Ca and the viscosity ratio M between liquid phases. Depending on the values of Ca and M, capillary fingering, viscous fingering, or stable displacement may be observed resulting in a variety of patterns affecting the phase entrapment. The Capillary Desaturation Curve (CDC), which represents the relationship between the residual oil saturation and Ca, is an important relation to describe the phase entrapment at a given Ca. In the present study, we investigated the CDC as influenced by the viscosity ratio. To do so, we have conducted a comprehensive series of experiments using a high‐resolution microscope and state‐of‐art micromodels to investigate the dynamics and patterns of phase entrapment at different Ca and M. By postprocessing of the experimental high‐resolution images, we calculated the CDC and quantified the effects of the Ca and M on the phase entrapment and number of blobs trapped in the micromodel and their size distributions during immiscible two‐phase flow. Our results show that CDCs are not necessarily monotonic for all M, and the physical mechanisms causing this nonmonotonic behavior are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study on nonmonotonicity of Capillary Desaturation Curves in a 2‐D pore network

Castro

Shokri

Karadimitriou

et al. 2015

Water Resources Research

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“…Sometimes however (e.g. if one if trying to implement the equations numerically) it is simpler to set the initial s D value to a small non-zero value [13,18] (e.g.…”

Section: Governing Equations: Pressure-driven Growth With Anisotropymentioning

confidence: 99%

Foam front displacement in improved oil recovery in systems with anisotropic permeability

Grassia

2017

Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspect

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A foam front propagating through an oil reservoir is considered in the context of foam improved oil recovery. Specifically the evolution of the shape of a foam front in a strongly anisotropic reservoir (vertical permeability much smaller than horizontal permeability) is determined via the pressure-driven growth model. The shape of the foam front is demonstrated to be extremely close to that predicted in the limiting case of a reservoir with no vertical permeability whatsoever, in particular any deviations from this shape are found to be second order in the ratio of vertical to horizontal permeabilities. Material points used to represent the foam front shape are shown to exhibit a uniform downward vertical motion, with a vertical velocity component which is proportional to the ratio of vertical to horizontal permeabilities. As the material points in question migrate downwards, they are replaced by new material points arriving from higher up, representing a long-time asymptotic solution for the front shape. This long-time asymptotic shape is sensitive to the ratio of vertical to horizontal permeabilities, with the foam front sweeping the reservoir less effectively as this ratio decreases

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“…Previous studies in the case of homogeneous permeability [11,13,14] have demonstrated that the system attains a state in which the 'apparent' horizontal velocity is uniform with position. 'Apparent' horizontal velocity is the difference in horizontal displacement per difference in time between two points on the front at the same vertical height at two different times.…”

Section: Modifying Velocity For Concavities and Regridding The Frontmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We have studied previously the displacement of foam within a homogeneous reservoir [11] (revisiting a model of Shan and Rossen [12]), and also two additional cases, one where the injection pressure is increased part way through the process and one taking into account the effect of surfactant slumping due to gravity [13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modelling foam improved oil recovery within a heterogeneous reservoir

Hernández

Grassia

Shokri

2016

Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspect

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The displacement of foam within a heterogeneous reservoir during foam improved oil recovery is described with the pressure-driven growth model. The pressure-driven growth model has previously been used to study foam motion for homogeneous cases.Here the foam model is modified in such a way that it includes terms for variable permeability. This model gives the evolution of the foam motion over time and the shape of the foam front, a wet foam zone between liquid-filled and gas-filled zones.The foam front shape for a heterogeneous or stratified reservoir develops concave and convex regions. For shapes such as these, the numerical solution of pressuredriven growth requires special numerical techniques, particularly in the case where concavities arise. We also present some analysis of the level of heterogeneity and how it affects the displacement, the shape of the front developing a set of concave corners. In addition to this we consider a heterogeneous and isotropic reservoir, in which case the foam front can sustain concavities, without these concavities having the same tendency to develop into corners.

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Foam-improved oil recovery: Modelling the effect of an increase in injection pressure

Cited by 7 publications

References 11 publications

Experimental study on nonmonotonicity of Capillary Desaturation Curves in a 2‐D pore network

Experimental study on nonmonotonicity of Capillary Desaturation Curves in a 2‐D pore network

Foam front displacement in improved oil recovery in systems with anisotropic permeability

Modelling foam improved oil recovery within a heterogeneous reservoir

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