Methodology for the Development of Laboratory–Based Comprehensive Foam Model for Use in the Reservoir Simulation of Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract

Summary An integrated methodology is presented for the development of a comprehensive empirical foam model based on tailored laboratory tests and representative numerical simulations that encompass processes of foam generation, coalescence, and shear thinning along with rheological characteristics and associated flow regimes. Steady-state and unsteady-state laboratory experiments of foam floods in a vertical column of sandpack with and without oil at different surfactant concentrations and at varied gas/surfactant-solution injection rates are designed, conducted, and analyzed. The logic and basis of these experiments are provided. Test results from experiments in the presence of oil provide information on the oil-induced foam/lamella coalescence functions. Unsteady-state experiments capture foam-generation and foam-dry-out phenomena, whereas steady-state experiments capture the effects of foam quality, foam velocity, and surfactant concentration. Process-based numerical simulations of these experiments are combined with basic governing analytical relationships of foam flow to provide a methodology for a comprehensive empirical foam model and to uniquely define the model parameters to preserve consistency with simulations of foam-flow processes. A procedure is presented to fully model the effect of surfactant concentration on foam strength and to quantify all concentration-function parameters, and, in particular, epsurf.

Numerical Investigation of the Most Affecting Parameters on Foam Flooding Performance in Carbonate Naturally Fractured Reservoirs

“…The success of foam as a displacing fluid in porous media depends on the longevity and strength of foams in the presence of nonaqueous phase liquids such as hydrocarbons, which are controlled by several factors, including critical water and surfactant concentration, brine salinity, oil saturation, and so on. Many different models have been developed to describe foam through porous media; generally, there are two main modelling approaches used to simulate foam in commercial simulators: empirical and mechanistic (Abbaszadeh et al 2018), Which use different parameters for simulating foam's stability and performance. The approach used in this study is the empirical method, which tends to modify the relative permeability in the presence of foam; however, the texture of the foam is not considered directly in the calculations.…”

Estimation of Local Equilibrium Model Parameters for Simulation of the Laboratory Foam-Enhanced Oil Recovery Process Using a Commercial Reservoir Simulator

“…The surfactant concentration effect ( F 1 ), , oil saturation effect ( F 2 ), shear thinning effect ( F 3 ), ,− foam generation effect ( F 4 ), oil composition effect ( F 5 ), salinity effect ( F 6 ), permeability effect ( F 7 ), and foam dry-out effect ( F dry ) , have been investigated elaborately in the LE foam model. Selected literatures related to foam flow modeling using the STARS LE foam model are summarized in Table .…”