High-Mobility-Ratio Waterflood Performance Prediction: Challenges and New Insights

Kumar, Mrinal; Hoang, V.T.; Satik, Cengiz; Rojas, Danny

doi:10.2118/97671-pa

Cited by 94 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Deionized water (νwater = 1 cSt, ρwater = 0.99 g/mL), used as the invading fluid, was injected into the microfluidic device through a side channel using a syringe pump (Chemyx Fusion 100, Stafford, TX, USA). The mobility ratio, defined as the ratio of dynamic viscosities (M = νoil ρoil/νwater ρwater), is a measure of the ease with which an invading fluid flows in the presence of a defending fluid [45], with lower mobility allowing the invading fluid to flow through the porous media and recover more oil than a mobility is higher.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waterflooding of Surfactant and Polymer Solutions in a Porous Media Micromodel

Yeh

Juárez

2018

Colloids and Interfaces

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Abstract:In this study, we examine microscale waterflooding in a randomly close-packed porous medium. Three different porosities were prepared in a microfluidic platform and saturated with silicone oil. Optical video fluorescence microscopy was used to track the water front as it flowed through the porous packed bed. The degree of water saturation was compared to water containing two different types of chemical modifiers, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), with water in the absence of a surfactant used as a control. Image analysis of our video data yielded saturation curves and calculated fractal dimension, which we used to identify how morphology changed the way in which an invading water phase moved through the porous media. An inverse analysis based on the implicit pressure explicit saturation (IMPES) simulation technique used mobility ratio as an adjustable parameter to fit our experimental saturation curves. The results from our inverse analysis combined with our image analysis show that this platform can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of surfactants or polymers as additives for enhancing the transport of water through an oil-saturated porous medium.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waterflooding of Surfactant and Polymer Solutions in a Porous Media Micromodel

Yeh

Juárez

2018

Colloids and Interfaces

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“…According to Darcy's law [45], fluid phase velocity is proportional to phase mobility. The mobility ratio (M) is generally defined as the mobility of the displacing phase (gas in the gas/aqueous case) divided by that of the displaced phase, which is the formation brine in this study [45][46][47][48],…”

Section: Partitioning With Two Impuritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For certain displacing and displaced fluids, the mobility ratio has an influence on the degree of flow instability in the displacing process [47]. If M >1, it indicates that the flowing capacity of the displacing phase is stronger than that of the displaced phase.…”

Section: Partitioning With Two Impuritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical investigation of the partitioning phenomenon of carbon dioxide and multiple impurities in deep saline aquifers

Jiang

2017

Applied Energy

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Highlights• The partitioning behaviours of impure CO 2 in geological formations are investigated.• The effects of N 2 , CH 4 or the mixture of N 2 and CH 4 are generally similar.• Less soluble N 2 and CH 4 enhance gas breakthroughs and the partitioning.• More soluble species such as H 2 S dissolves preferentially in the formation brine. AbstractThe partitioning behaviours of CO 2 with three kinds of common impurities, i.e., N 2 , CH 4 and H 2 S, in the formation brine are investigated by numerical simulations. The results indicate that the effects of N 2 , CH 4 or the mixture of N 2 and CH 4 at the same concentrations are generally similar. The leading gas front is usually made up of less soluble impurities, such as N 2 , CH 4 or the mixture of N 2 and CH 4 , while more soluble species such as H 2 S has dissolved preferentially in the formation brine. The separations between different gas species increase as the gas displacement front migrates forwards and contacts more of the aqueous phase. Compared with the partitioning results of the 98% CO 2 and 2% H 2 S mixture, the results indicate that the inclusion of less soluble N 2 and/or CH 4 results in an earlier gas breakthrough and a longer delay between the breakthrough times of CO 2 and H 2 S. The early breakthrough of the gas phase is mainly because that the addition of N 2 and/or CH 4 lowers the viscosity of the gas phase, resulting in a higher gas velocity than that of the CO 2 -H 2 S mixture. Meanwhile, the mobility ratio is higher and the gas mixture contacts the formation brine over a larger area, giving rise to more efficient stripping of the more soluble gas species like H 2 S and thus larger separations. In the meantime, with the same total concentrations of impurities (12%), when 2% H 2 S is contained in the CO 2 streams, gas phase flows slower and thus the breakthrough time is later. Furthermore, the effects on the partitioning phenomenon are weaker with decreasing concentrations of N 2 and/or CH 4 (from 10% to 2%) with fixed concentrations of other impurity like H 2 S (2%). The migration distances and the separations between different gas species change linearly with time on the whole, as confirmed by a simulation in a longer model.

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“…From this standpoint it would seem that polymer flooding has been primarily designed to improve the mobility ratio, M, i.e. the ratio between the mobility of the displacing and displaced fluid phases (Chang, 1978;Gogarty, 1967;Kumar et al, 2008;Lake, 1987;Pye, 1964) because, as it well known, if M is greater than unity the displacing front becomes unstable (i.e., unfavorable mobility ratio); conversely, a value equal to or less than unity is a favorable mobility ratio and, it goes without saying, the target value (Mungan et al, 1966;Ali and Thomas, 1996;Morelato et al, 2011). However, achieving this in the field has proven more challenging than expected because, as it is known, in many EOR processes there will be more than one displacement front; for example, if multiple slugs of different fluids are injected, the flow behavior of any specific displacement front will be affected not only by the mobilities of the fluids immediately ahead of and behind that front, but also by the mobilities of fluids in regions around the other fronts (Green and Willhite, 1998).…”

Section: A Concise Account Of Polymer-based Treatments Since the 1960smentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing Core-Shell Technology for Conformance Control

Verga

Lombardi

Maddinelli

et al. 2017

Oil Gas Sci. Technol. – Rev. IFP Energies nouvelles

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-Reservoir heterogeneities can severely affect the effectiveness of waterflooding because displacing fluids tend to flow along high-permeability paths and prematurely breakthrough at producing wells. A Proof-of-Concept (PoC) study is presented while discussing the experimental results of a research on "core-shell" technology to improve waterflooding in heterogeneous oil reservoirs. The proposed methodology consists in injecting a water dispersion of nanocapsules after the reservoir has been extensively flushed with water. The nanocapsules are made of a "core" (either polymeric or siliceous materials), protected by a "shell" that can release its content at an appropriate time, which activates through gelation or aggregation thus plugging the high permeability paths. Additional flooding with water provides recovery of bypassed oil. The initial conceptual screening of possible materials was followed by extensive batch and column lab tests. Then, 3D dynamic simulations at reservoir scale were performed to compensate for the temporary lack of pilot tests and/or field applications.Résumé -Introduction au « core-shell » technologie pour l'amélioration de déplacement d'huile par injection d'eau -Les hétérogénéités de réservoir peuvent gravement affecter l'efficacité de l'injection d'eau parce que les fluides de déplacement ont tendance à couler le long des chemins de haute perméabilité et à parvenir prématurément au puits de production. Une étude de preuve de concept est présentée tout en discutant les résultats expérimentaux d'une recherche sur la technologie « core-shell » pour améliorer l'injection d'eau dans les réservoirs de pétrole hétérogènes. La méthode proposée consiste à injecter une dispersion aqueuse de nanocapsules après que le réservoir ait été abondamment rincé à l'eau. Les nanocapsules sont faites d'un « noyau » (matériaux polymères ou siliceux), protégé par une « coquille » qui peut libérer son contenu à un moment approprié ; ensuite le contenu peut s'activer par gélification ou agrégation ainsi que les chemins de haute perméabilité. Un rinçage supplémentaire avec de l'eau permet une récupération d'huile contournée. La projection conceptuelle initiale de matériaux possibles a été suivie par de nombreux tests de lots et de la colonne de laboratoire. Ensuite, des simulations dynamiques 3D à l'échelle du réservoir ont été effectuées pour compenser le manque temporaire de tests pilotes et/ou applications industrielles.

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High-Mobility-Ratio Waterflood Performance Prediction: Challenges and New Insights

Cited by 94 publications

References 30 publications

Waterflooding of Surfactant and Polymer Solutions in a Porous Media Micromodel

Waterflooding of Surfactant and Polymer Solutions in a Porous Media Micromodel

Numerical investigation of the partitioning phenomenon of carbon dioxide and multiple impurities in deep saline aquifers

Introducing Core-Shell Technology for Conformance Control

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