Numerical simulation of foam flooding in porous media in the absence and presence of oleic phase

Hosseini-Nasab, S. M.; Douarche, F.; Simjoo, Mohammad; Nabzar, L.; Bourbiaux, B.; Zitha, Pacelli L.J.; Roggero, F.

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2018.03.027

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…It is seen that for both AES/C 16 HSB and SDS/C 16 HSB systems, f reaches a maximum with increasing total surfactant concentration to about 5 mM, and in general, the SDS/C 16 HSB The above results were obtained for foams produced by hand shaking surfactant solutions in a cylinder. In real foam flooding process, however, foams are usually produced by coinjection of gas and surfactant solution into porous media (Hosseini-Nasab et al, 2018;Hussain et al, 2019;Lu et al, 2017;Xu et al, 2020). The bubbling method is, therefore, often used for producing foams for performance evaluation (Chen et al, 2019;Kumar et al, 2020;Manan, 2015).…”

Section: Improving Foam Performances By Using Mixed Surfactantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synergistic Effects between Anionic and Sulfobetaine Surfactants for Stabilization of Foams Tolerant to Crude Oil in Foam Flooding

Liu

Cui

2021

J Surfact & Detergents

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In foam flooding, foams stabilized by conventional surfactants are usually unstable in contacting with crude oil, which behaves as a strong defoaming agent. In this article, synergistic effects between different surfactants were utilized to improve foam stability against crude oil. Targeted to reservoir conditions of Daqing crude oil field, China (45 C, salinity of 6778 mg L −1 , pH = 8-9), foams stabilized by typical anionic surfactants fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether sulfate (AES) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) show low composite foam index (200-500 L s) and low oil tolerance index (0.1-0.2). However, the foam stability can be significantly improved by mixing the anionic surfactant with a sulfobetaine surfactant, which behaves as a foam stabilizer increasing the half-life of foams, and those with longer alkyl chain behave better. As an example, by mixing AES and SDS with hexadecyl dimethyl hydroxypropyl sulfobetaine (C 16 HSB) at a molar fraction of 0.2 (referring to total surfactant, not including water), the maximum composite foaming index and oil tolerance index can be increased to 3000/5000 L s and 1.0/4.0, respectively, at a total concentration between 3 and 5 mM. The attractive interaction between the different surfactants in a mixed monolayer as reflected by the negative β s parameter is responsible for the enhancement of the foam stabilization, which resulted in lower interfacial tensions and therefore negative enter (E), spreading (S), and bridging (B) coefficients of the oil. The oil is then emulsified as tiny droplets dispersed in lamellae, giving very stable pseudoemulsion films inhibiting rupture of the bubble films. This made it possible to utilize typical conventional anionic surfactants as foaming agents in foam flooding.

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Section: Improving Foam Performances By Using Mixed Surfactantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synergistic Effects between Anionic and Sulfobetaine Surfactants for Stabilization of Foams Tolerant to Crude Oil in Foam Flooding

Liu

Cui

2021

J Surfact & Detergents

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“…However, so far, there is no experimental evidence to prove their simulation results. Hosseini-Nasab et al (2018) investigated the applications of the IT foam model for simulating foam flow in the presence of an oleic phase through the PumaFlowV R (IFP, Rueil-Malmaison, France) reservoir simulator. The 1D model, however, causes some discrepancies between the measured and numerically calculated oil-recovery data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of Foam Enhanced-Oil-Recovery Processes Using Operator-Based Linearization Approach

et al. 2021

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Summary Foam injection is a promising enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) technology that significantly improves the sweep efficiency of gas injection. Simulation of foam/oil displacement in reservoirs is an expensive process for conventional simulation because of the strongly nonlinear physics, such as multiphase flow and transport with oil/foam interactions. In this work, an operator-based linearization (OBL) approach, combined with the representation of foam by an implicit-texture (IT) model with two flow regimes, is extended for the simulation of the foam EOR process. The OBL approach improves the efficiency of the highly nonlinear foam-simulation problem by transforming the discretized nonlinear conservation equations into a quasilinear form using state-dependent operators. The state-dependent operators are approximated by discrete representation on a uniform mesh in parameter space. The numerical-simulation results are validated by using three-phasefractional-flow theory for foam/oil flow. Starting with an initial guess depending on the fitting of steady-state experimental data with oil, the OBL foam model is regressed to experimental observations using a gradient-optimization technique. A series of numerical validation studies is performed to investigate the accuracy of the proposed approach. The numerical model shows good agreement with analytical solutions at different conditions and with different foam parameters. With finer grids, the resolution of the simulation is better, but at the cost of more expensive computations. The foam-quality scan is accurately fitted to steady-state experimental data, except in the low-quality regime. In this regime, the used IT foam model cannot capture the upward-tilting pressure gradient (or apparent viscosity) contours. 1D and 3D simulation results clearly demonstrate two stages of foam propagation from inlet to outlet, as seen in the computed-tomography (CT) coreflood experiments: weak foam displaces most of the oil, followed by a propagation of stronger foam at lower oil saturation. OBL is a direct method to reduce nonlinearity in complex physical problems, which can significantly improve computational performance. Taking its accuracy and efficiency into account, the data-drivenOBL-based approach could serve as a platform for efficient numerical upscaling to field-scaleapplications.

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“…Performance of foam injection methods in the absence of oil is described in various studies, − but comparatively, limited studies are carried out about modeling and simulation of foam injection processes in the presence of oil that could be potentially movable through porous media. − As to Farajzadeh et al, the viscous instabilities in an alternating injection of foaming agent and gas are investigated using an implicit-texture local-equilibrium (IT-LE) model and fine grid resolution. Nevertheless, the considered system was a two-phase flow of surfactant solution and gas (without oil) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, this model reduces the number of input parameters required for modeling by considering the instantaneous equilibrium for foam properties. Therefore, its numerical computation time is significantly reduced compared to the PB model. ,,,, Therefore, in most foam-based simulation studies, the IT-LE model is used to describe the behavior of foam.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Study of Immiscible Foam Propagation in Porous Media in the Presence of Oil Using an Implicit-Texture Foam Model

et al. 2021

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Gas injection is one of the established methods in enhanced oil recovery. Nevertheless, poor sweep efficiency and viscous instabilities result in early gas breakthrough. Lowering injected gas mobility through foaming is a potential solution to solve the forenamed challenges. Although foaming of the injected gas has been proposed in various stages of oil production, comparatively few studies are carried out about foam injection modeling in the presence of oil. In this study, we aimed to numerically investigate the immiscible foam propagation in a thick, heterogeneous, water-flooded sandstone reservoir with a primary goal to control the surge of the produced gas–oil ratio (GOR) and also the possible incremental oil production by foam. To this end, the implicit-texture local-equilibrium foam model was used to address that how a stable foam front could affect fluid saturation and their mobility in the presence of waterflood residual oil. We treated the reservoir model by considering a pair of horizontal injection/production well through the upper and lower parts of the reservoir to mimic the foam-assisted gravity drainage scheme. Foam generation was considered through alternating (SAG) and simultaneous injection of gas and surfactant solution, and its performance was compared with continuous gas injection and water alternating gas injection. Results showed that gas-phase mobility was reduced in the presence of foam, leading to delaying of gas breakthrough and thereby improvement of gas sweep efficiency. The latter caused a significant reduction in produced gas–oil ratio, enhanced the control of the front movement, and resulted in better oil sweeping. In comparison to the SAG method, occurrence of fingering phenomena in foam co-injection was less likely. In addition, foam front in co-injection method exhibited relatively slower movement compared to the SAG method. Also, with ignoring the prescribed pressure constraint in injection well, the stability and uniformity of the generated foam front decreased, leading to more occurrences of fingering and thus reduction in oil recovery.

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Numerical simulation of foam flooding in porous media in the absence and presence of oleic phase

Cited by 22 publications

References 40 publications

Synergistic Effects between Anionic and Sulfobetaine Surfactants for Stabilization of Foams Tolerant to Crude Oil in Foam Flooding

Synergistic Effects between Anionic and Sulfobetaine Surfactants for Stabilization of Foams Tolerant to Crude Oil in Foam Flooding

Simulation of Foam Enhanced-Oil-Recovery Processes Using Operator-Based Linearization Approach

Numerical Study of Immiscible Foam Propagation in Porous Media in the Presence of Oil Using an Implicit-Texture Foam Model

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