TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractIn the petroleum industry, foams are used for improved oil recovery, reducing gas breakthrough to productions wells, and diverting acid in well-stimulation treatments. A substantial body of research on foam for these applications is extended here to the high-permeabilities and low pressures of environmental remediation, through both laboratory experiments and computer simulations based on the laboratory results.New data confirm that the two steady-state flow regimes identified by Alvarez et al. for petroleum applications exist under conditions relevant to groundwater remediation. The low-quality regime is strongly shear-thinning, in agreement with Alvarez et al. The high-quality regime is more sensitive to surfactant concentration than the low-quality regime, while the low-quality regime is more sensitive to permeability. Therefore, diversion between layers differing in permeability would be more effective in the high-permeability regime, while the low-quality regime has advantages for injectivity and liquid diversion.A foam simulator can be fitted to these steady-state foam data. Simulations indicate that foam can propagate without gravity segregation over long distances at an overall average pressure gradient of well under 1 psi/ft. Moreover, a simple correlation for gravity segregation developed for petroleum applications works well for aquifers overlain by a vadose zone, as long as the assumptions of that correlation (Newtonian rheology, incompressible flow) are satisfied.Local steady state would not be achieved in the field if pressure gradient were insufficient for foam generation, however. New results indicate that at moderate ∇p foam may exist in an unstable regime between strong and coarse foam.
TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractIn the petroleum industry, foams are used for improved oil recovery, reducing gas breakthrough to productions wells, and diverting acid in well-stimulation treatments. A substantial body of research on foam for these applications is extended here to the high-permeabilities and low pressures of environmental remediation, through both laboratory experiments and computer simulations based on the laboratory results.New data confirm that the two steady-state flow regimes identified by Alvarez et al. for petroleum applications exist under conditions relevant to groundwater remediation. The low-quality regime is strongly shear-thinning, in agreement with Alvarez et al. The high-quality regime is more sensitive to surfactant concentration than the low-quality regime, while the low-quality regime is more sensitive to permeability. Therefore, diversion between layers differing in permeability would be more effective in the high-permeability regime, while the low-quality regime has advantages for injectivity and liquid diversion.A foam simulator can be fitted to these steady-state foam data. Simulations indicate that foam can propagate without gravity segregation over long distances at an overall average pressure gradient of well under 1 psi/ft. Moreover, a simple correlation for gravity segregation developed for petroleum applications works well for aquifers overlain by a vadose zone, as long as the assumptions of that correlation (Newtonian rheology, incompressible flow) are satisfied.Local steady state would not be achieved in the field if pressure gradient were insufficient for foam generation, however. New results indicate that at moderate ∇p foam may exist in an unstable regime between strong and coarse foam.
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