Application of a Novel Ultrasonic Technology to Improve Oil Recovery with an Environmental Viewpoint

Abstract

It is proven by recent studies that sonication has a positive influence over the oil flow within the porous media. Accordingly, the researchers in this paper evaluated the influence of sonication over the oil recovery by means of free fall gravity drainage. Furthermore, the influence of sonication on the oil permeability was assessed in three samples that had different bead size in average. By use of the Hagroot backward method and Matlab simulation, the optimal petrophysical situation for sonication was determined. The authors concluded that sonication positively affects the oil recovery for the non-asphaltenic samples, while it has a reverse effect on the asphaltenic samples because of increasing the viscosity in long-term. Furthermore, it was witnessed that gravity drainage was heightened by increase of beads' size in the non-asphaltenic sample. Accordingly, this mechanism can be useful in oil recovery by means of gravity drainage, specifically in fracture reservoirs.

Recent advances of ultrasound applications in the oil and gas industry

“… Application Reference Study Overview CO 2 flooding Wang et al [95] US application for oil–gas miscibility during CO 2 flooding and extraction of tight oils Hamidi et al [36] US-assisted CO 2 flooding in a porous media, parameters optimization incl. temperature Enhanced diffusion of colloids Yeh and Juarez [102] US application for colloidal particles mobility increase of in porous media EOR Qajar et al [78] Effect of US and solvent treatment on heavy oil rheology and asphaltene structure Abdulfatah [1] US as EOR using Niger Delta crude oil Agi et al [10] Acoustic parameters study for recovery of kerosene and paraffin Arabzadeh and Amani [20] US as EOR by means of free fall gravity drainage Mohsin and Meribout [62] Model for US as EOR Naderi and Babadagli [70] Immiscible displacement processes under US waves Najafi [71] US as EOR by means of free gravity drainage EOR from sludges Lins et al [53] Study of US treatment combined with mechanical stirring for oil recovery from waste lubricant oil Luo et al [55] Effect of US treatment on oil recovery from oily sludges He et al [37] US parameters study on EOR from sludges Gao et al [27] US waves on the oil components removal from oily sludge Formation damage Otumudia et al [75] Effect of ultrasound in removing plugging using glass models to simulate oil reservoirs Ghamartale et al [29] Permeability and pore structure enhancement using US Wang and Huang [96] Water-induced dama...…”

Recent developments, challenges, and prospects of ultrasound-assisted oil technologies

“…The utilization of US is one of the various technologies that have demonstrated potential capability to recover these residual oils ( Fig. 9 ) [58] , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] , [64] , [65] , [66] , [67] , [68] , [69] , [70] . Agi et al [58] evaluated the effect of acoustic parameters such as US type (intermittent or continuous), US power (150 and 500 W) and distance to the micromodel (15 and 30 cm) on the enhancement of the recovery of kerosene and paraffin.…”

Posterior Tibial Slope Increases Anterior Cruciate Ligament Stress in Bi-Cruciate Retaining Total Knee Arthroplasty: In Vivo Kinematic Analysis

“…The ACL bundle length, when the patients were positioned in the seated position, was used as ACL bundle reference length (& 0 ). 16,28 Dual Fluoroscopic Imaging System…”