Drainage in two-dimensional porous media with polymer solutions

Beaumont, Julien; Bodiguel, Hugues; Colin, Annie

doi:10.1039/c3sm51480c

Cited by 19 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Improved recovery is achieved through a variety of methods, depending on the oil viscosity, liquid-liquid and liquid-solid interactions, and geophysical rock properties (porosity, permeability). 9 One enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method is inclusion of polymers in the injection water to increase the aqueous-phase viscosity and improve the mobility ratio, 9,11,12 thereby enabling the displacement of previously bypassed oil (e.g., due to a Saffman-Taylor instability). Additionally, several authors have noted that mobilization of trapped oil beyond that expected from the increased aqueous-phase viscosity is achieved through the use of viscoelastic polymers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viscoelastic polymer flows and elastic turbulence in three-dimensional porous structures

et al. 2016

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Viscoelastic polymer solutions flowing through reservoir rocks have been found to improve oil displacement efficiency when the aqueous-phase shear-rate exceeds a critical value. A possible mechanism for this enhanced recovery is elastic turbulence that causes breakup and mobilization of trapped oil ganglia. Here, we apply nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) pulsed field gradient (PFG) diffusion measurements in a novel way to detect increased motion of disconnected oil ganglia. The data are acquired directly from a three-dimensional (3D) opaque porous structure (sandstone) when viscoelastic fluctuations are expected to be present in the continuous phase. The measured increase in motion of trapped ganglia provides unequivocal evidence of fluctuations in the flowing phase in a fully complex 3D system. This work provides direct evidence of elastic turbulence in a realistic reservoir rock - a measurement that cannot be readily achieved by conventional laboratory methods. We support the NMR data with optical microscopy studies of fluctuating ganglia in simple two-dimensional (2D) microfluidic networks, with consistent apparent rheological behaviour of the aqueous phase, to provide conclusive evidence of elastic turbulence in the 3D structure and hence validate the proposed flow-fluctuation mechanism for enhanced oil recovery.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viscoelastic polymer flows and elastic turbulence in three-dimensional porous structures

et al. 2016

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“…The fabrication procedure has been described in Ref. 4. The first device is a micromodel of a porous medium.…”

Section: A Device and Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these solutions behave very differently to Newtonian fluids. They exhibit shear-tinning properties, 4 viscoelastic behavior, 5 and slippage at the wall. [6][7][8] Above the overlap concentration and for sufficiently high flow rates, elasticity and shear-thinning become very important.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extra dissipation and flow uniformization due to elastic instabilities of shear-thinning polymer solutions in model porous media

et al. 2016

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We study flows of hydrolized polyacrylamide solutions in two dimensional porous media made using microfluidics, for which elastic effects are dominant. We focus on semi-dilute solutions (0.1%-0.4%) which exhibit a strong shear thinning behavior. We systematically measure the pressure drop and find that the effective permeability is dramatically higher than predicted when the Weissenberg number is greater than about 10. Observations of the streamlines of the flow reveal that this effect coincides with the onset of elastic instabilities. Moreover, and importantly for applications, we show using local measurements that the mean flow is modified: it appears to be more uniform at high Weissenberg number than for Newtonian fluids. These observations are compared and discussed using pore network simulations, which account for the effect of disorder and shear thinning on the flow properties. Published by AIP Publishing. [http://dx

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“…A transition from capillary fingering to a stable invading water front can be achieved in an oil reservoir when the viscosity of the injected water is increased by adding polymer [5]. However, many polymer solutions, including partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), can exhibit lowered effective viscosity due to lowered polymer concentration near the mineral surface due to cross-flow migration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduction of the effective shear viscosity in polymer solutions due to crossflow migration in microchannels: Effective viscosity models based on DPD simulations

Palmer

Baardsen

Skartlien

2017

Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology

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Drainage in two-dimensional porous media with polymer solutions

Cited by 19 publications

References 40 publications

Viscoelastic polymer flows and elastic turbulence in three-dimensional porous structures

Viscoelastic polymer flows and elastic turbulence in three-dimensional porous structures

Extra dissipation and flow uniformization due to elastic instabilities of shear-thinning polymer solutions in model porous media

Reduction of the effective shear viscosity in polymer solutions due to crossflow migration in microchannels: Effective viscosity models based on DPD simulations

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