In this work, wall slipping behavior of foam with nanoparticle-armored bubbles was first studied in a capillary tube and the novel multiphase foam was characterized by a slipping law. A crack model with a cuboid geometry was then used to compare with the foam slipping results from the capillary tube and also to evaluate the flow resistance factor of the foam. The results showed that the slipping friction force F FR in the capillary tube significantly increased by addition of modified SiO2 nanoparticles, and an appropriate power law exponents by fitting F FR vs. Capillary number, Ca, was 1/2. The modified nanoparticles at the surface were bridged together and formed a dense particle “armor” surrounding the bubble, and the interconnected structures of the “armor” with strong steric integrity made the surface solid-like, which was in agreement with the slip regime associated with rigid surface. Moreover, as confirmed by 3D microscopy, the roughness of the bubble surface increased with nanoparticle concentration, which in turn increased the slipping friction force. Compared with pure SDBS foam, SDBS/SiO2 foam shows excellent stability and high flow resistance in visual crack. The resistance factor of SiO2/SDBS foam increased as the wall surface roughness increased in core cracks.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) foam flooding is a promising carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology that is often used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). However, the instability of foam and low displacement efficiency restrict its efficient utilization. In this work, the microflow behavior and the EOR performance of aqueous CO2 foam stabilized by particulate matter (PM) from coal combustion were systematically studied using a micromodel with etched porous media. The results showed that, when a moderate camellia oleifera saponin (COS) concentration was used, the addition of PM could transfer the maximum foam volume to a higher temperature. Moreover, with the addition of PM, the half-life of CO2 foam drainage could be increased by ∼12 times at 75 °C. The disproportionation, coalescence, and film rupture of CO2 foams in the porous media slowed down in the presence of PM. At high water cut stage, the different types of microresidual oil, such as cluster, columnar, membrane, and blind-end, could effectively be activated and displaced by the PM/COS foam. During the flooding, the high stability of PM/COS foam in the presence of oil guaranteed the efficiency of the whole process. The solid-like foam film enhanced the plugging effect in the water channel. The rough surface of the PM/COS bubble with high interfacial viscoelasticity enhanced the scrubbing capacity of the bubble to residual oil. According to the sandpack flooding results, the recovery of oil increased by ∼40.85% due to the injection of PM/COS foam and subsequent water at 60 °C, which was about twice of the oil recovery obtained using pure surfactant foam.
The use of CO2 as a fracturing fluid for reservoir stimulation to enhance oil and gas recovery in low-permeability formations is widespread. However, during the CO2 injection process, the low viscosity of supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) at high temperature and pressure conditions usually causes serious fluid loss in porous media, thus restricting its efficient utilization. In this work, the dynamic filtration control properties of nanoparticle-enhanced dry SC-CO2 foams in porous media were explored, and the effects of nanoparticle and surfactant concentration, foam quality, pressure drop, temperature, and permeability were systematically studied. The results showed that the SC-CO2/liquid interfacial viscoelasticity modulus and the corresponding foam viscosity were improved by the adsorption of silica nanoparticles at the SC-CO2/liquid interface. At high foam quality (⩾90%), the nanoparticles reduced the amount of coarse bubbles and prevented bubble disproportionation, both of which helped to maintain a higher viscosity in the ultradry foam. The nanoparticles also significantly enhanced the foam filtration control performance; compared to bare dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT) foam, the total filtration coefficient of CO2 was decreased by a factor of about 2.2–6.5 with an increase in SiO2 nanoparticle concentration from 0.5 to 1.5 wt %. The effect of surfactant concentration on the filtration of foam with nanoparticles also correlated well with its effect on interfacial viscoelastic modulus and foam viscosity. Increasing the foam quality from 80 to 97% only increased the filtration control performance to a certain extent, as the foams became ultradry and unstable if the foam quality was too high (⩾90%); thereafter, a continuing increase in foam quality caused by CO2 expansion at high pressure drop values led to low flow resistance and weakened the filtration control performance. The addition of silica nanoparticles reduced the temperature dependence of the foam filtration coefficient. The permeability and total filtration coefficient followed a power law relationship, with the addition of nanoparticles causing a decrease in the power law exponent. Return permeability tests after filtration result confirmed that nanoparticle-enhanced dry SC-CO2 foams were relatively clean fluids for porous media.
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