Experiments show that a spreading oil increases the time for foam generation and decreases the speed of foam propagation in a porous medium. It also breaks a foam faster than a nonspreading oil. These findings may be important in interpreting results of different foam displacement experiments and therefore surfactant selection.
Experimental and theoretical studies show that the transport of steam-foam surfactants through reservoir sands can be substantially retarded as a result of cation exchange between the surfactant solution and the formation clays. Results, however, show that a high injected salinity favors surfactant propagation by displacing divalent cations faster and by reducing partitioning when divalent cations are present.
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