Foams in porous media

Marsden, S.S.

doi:10.2172/5866567

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…They attributed the observed effect to a change from a water-wet to an oil-wet state of rock. Marsden (1986) however, suggested that more likely oil emulsification by foam could make more contribution in improved oil recoveries (Marsden, 1986). In 2010, a micro-model study of CO 2 injection showed that residual oil trapped in the model could not be released by CO 2 , once a channel was created in the micro model, due to highly unfavourable mobility ratio of oil and gas (Zhang et al, 2010).…”

Section: Reducing the Capillary Forcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foam assisted CO2-EOR; Concepts, Challenges and Applications

et al. 2013

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Foam assisted CO 2 enhanced oil recovery has attracted increasing attention of oil companies (operators and service companies) and research institutions mainly due to the potentially high benefit of foam on CO 2 -EOR. Miscible and immiscible CO 2 flooding projects are respectively proven and potential EOR methods. Both methods have suffered from limited efficiency due to gravity segregation, gas override, viscous fingering and channeling through high permeability streaks. Numerous theoretical and experimental studies as well as field applications have indicated that foaming of CO 2 reduces its mobility, thereby helping to control the above negative effects. However, there are still various conceptual and operational challenges, which may compromise the success and application of foam assisted CO 2 -EOR. This paper presents a critical survey of the foam assisted CO 2 -EOR process to reveal its strengths, highlight knowledge gaps and suggest ways. The oil recovery mechanisms involved in CO 2 foam flood, the effect of gaseous and soluble CO 2 on the process, synergic effect of foaming agent and ultra-low IFT surfactants, logistic and operational concerns, etc. were identified as among the main challenges for this process. Moreover, the complex flow behaviour of CO 2 , oil, micro-emulsion and brine system dictates a detailed study of the physical-chemical aspects of CO 2 foam flow for a successful design. Unavailability of reliable predictive tools due to the less understood concepts and phenomena adds more challenges to the process results and application justifications. The study highlights the recent achievements and analysis about foam application and different parameters, which cannot be avoided for a successful foam assisted CO 2 flood design and implementation. Accordingly, the study also addresses prospects and suggests necessary guidelines to be considered for the success of CO 2 foam projects. SPE 165280sweep efficiency in CO 2 -floods can be high, and the displacement efficiency of a miscible CO 2 flood often exceeds 90%. However, the sweep efficiency of CO 2 processes is often poor. Limitations of the current CO 2 -EORCO 2 would be much more widely used if it were abundantly available (Orr Jr., 2003). Natural sources, by-product of gas treatment units, and combustion processes could be supply sources of CO 2 . However, the present technologies of CO 2 capture and pressurization require energy which would result in a decreased overall energy efficiency and added cost. To recover additional oil in a CO 2 -EOR process, CO 2 is generally injected into the reservoir as a supercritical fluid (Sc-CO 2 ). Sc-CO 2 viscosity is lower than water and most crude oils, which can lead to a number of conformance and mobility issues, and instability in the displacement front, as shown in Fig. 1. Due to the adverse mobility ratio, fingers of CO 2 grow from the displacement front, and cause premature breakthrough, and inefficient CO 2 utilization. Furthermore, the tendency of lower density CO 2 to migrate toward the upper p...

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Section: Reducing the Capillary Forcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foam assisted CO2-EOR; Concepts, Challenges and Applications

et al. 2013

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“…Marsden (1986) exhaustively describes literature relative to the topic that was generated before 1986. Sagar (1997) aqueous foams for improving steam-drive 1-3and C02-flood performance, gelled-foams for plugging high permeability chrumelss, foams for prevention or delay of gas or water coningG, and snrfactant-alternadng-gas processes for clean up of ground-water aquif@7'8.…”

Section: Progress To Date and A Plan For Continued Progressmentioning

confidence: 99%

SUPRI Heavy Oil Research Program Twenty-First Annual Report, SUPRI TR-111

Brigham¹,

Castanier²,

Kovscek³

1999

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“…Marsden (1986) notes that the heat of condensation of water increases with pressure: thus the heat liberated when steam condenses on one side of the lamella is greater than that absorbed by evaporation on the other side. Therefore as the process proceeds, the lamella would heat up and become less stable as temperature increases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 2D Model for the Effect of Gas Diffusion on Mobility of Foam for EOR

Nonnekes¹,

Cox²,

Rossen³

2012

ECMOR XIII - 13th European Conference on the Mathematics of Oil Recovery

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SUMMARYTransport of gas across liquid films between bubbles is cited as one reason why CO2 foams for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) are usually weaker than N2 foams and why steam foams are weaker than foams of steam mixed with N2.We examine here the effect of inter-bubble gas diffusion on flowing bubbles in a simplified model of a porous medium (a periodically constricted tube in 2D) and in particular its effect on the bubble-size distribution and capillary resistance to flow. Bubbles somewhat smaller than a pore disappear by diffusion as the bubbles move. For bubbles larger than a pore, as expected in EOR, diffusion does not affect bubble size. Instead, diffusion actually increases capillary resistance to flow (i.e. makes foam stronger): lamellae spend more time in positions where lamella curvature resists movement. When fit to pressures and diffusion and convection rates representative of field application of foams, diffusion is not expected to alter the bubble-size distribution in a foam, but instead modestly increases the resistance to flow. The reason for the apparent weakness of CO2 foam therefore evidently lies in factors other than CO2's large diffusion rate through foam.

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Foams in porous media

Cited by 23 publications

References 20 publications

Foam assisted CO2-EOR; Concepts, Challenges and Applications

Foam assisted CO2-EOR; Concepts, Challenges and Applications

SUPRI Heavy Oil Research Program Twenty-First Annual Report, SUPRI TR-111

A 2D Model for the Effect of Gas Diffusion on Mobility of Foam for EOR

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