Effect of surfactant concentration on foam: From coreflood experiments to implicit-texture foam-model parameters

Jones, Siân; Laskaris, Georgios; Vincent-Bonnieu, S.; Farajzadeh, R.; Rossen, W.R.

doi:10.1016/j.jiec.2016.03.041

Cited by 74 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Another solution to control gas mobility and increase gas front stability is the use of surfactant-stabilised foam. This idea was first introduced by Bond and Holbrook in 1958 [15], and later many other investigations have been conducted on characterisation and use of foam in gas injection process [16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study on stability and rheological properties of aqueous foam in the presence of reservoir natural solid particles

Rafati

Haddad

Hamidi

2016

Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspect

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Gas injection and especially CO2 flooding has been applied in many oil reservoirs globally to increase oil recovery factor in addition to its environmental friendly aspects. However, difference between fluid viscosities and densities, can cause interface instability where gas override and fingering may expedite gas breakthrough. Different types of foam have been proposed to improve interface stability. Yet, a major uncertainty is interaction of foam with natural reservoir particles which may improve or downgrade the performance and stability of foam. In this study we examined foam stability through solid-fluids interactions between solid particles of hydrocarbon reservoirs and aqueous foam. We tested five common reservoir particles of calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, strontium sulfate and iron oxide with different surfactant and particle concentrations. It is found that stability of foam in the presence solid particles is a function of density, shape, size, and wettability of particles where monolayer, bilayer of network or particles stabilise foam lamella or rupture foam structure. Results show that solid particles of calcium carbonate, barium sulfate and strontium sulfate enhance the thermodynamic stability of foam. This is due to the distribution of semihydrophilic solid particles, which form mono-and multi-layers of particle chains in foam lamellae and plateau borders. On the other hand, solid particles of iron oxide and calcium sulfate destabilise foam where particle swelling, adsorbed surfactant solution and settlement into liquid phase due to their high densities were observed. The results suggest that a comprehensive study of liquid and solid interaction is critical in design of any foam for enhanced oil recovery processes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study on stability and rheological properties of aqueous foam in the presence of reservoir natural solid particles

Rafati

Haddad

Hamidi

2016

Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspect

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“…For concentration above 0.1 wt%, the maximum apparent viscosity slightly decreases with increasing surfactant concentration. This is likely because at high surfactant concentrations when the concentration of micelles in the surfactant solution is high, some micelles are captured in the film during the thinning process 8,19,20 . Foam stability in porous media is determined by the magnitude of P c * , which depends on surfactant type and concentration, among other parameters 4,28 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Foam on Liquid Phase Mobility in Porous Media

Eftekhari¹,

Farajzadeh²

2016

SPE Improved Oil Recovery Conference

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We investigate the validity of the assumption that foam in porous media reduces the mobility of gas phase only and does not impact the liquid-phase mobility. The foam is generated by simultaneous injection of nitrogen gas and a surfactant solution into sandstone cores and its strength is varied by changing surfactant type and concentration. We find, indeed, that the effect of foam on liquid-phase mobility is not pronounced and can be ignored. Our new experimental results and analyses resolve apparent discrepancies in the literature. Previously, some researchers erroneously applied relative permeability relationships measured at small to moderate capillary numbers to foam floods at large capillary number. Our results indicate that the water relative permeability in the absence of surfactant should be measured with the capillary pressure ranging up to values reached during the foam floods. This requires conducting a steady-state gas/water core flood with capillary numbers similar to that of foam floods or measuring the water relative-permeability curve using a centrifuge.Foams are used in several subsurface applications ranging from aquifer remediation 1 to maximizing oil extraction from hydrocarbon fields 2 . The purpose is either to block the high-permeability layers with foam and divert the fluids into the low-permeability layers or to create a viscous pressure gradient to oppose gravity override.Foam exhibits two flow regimes depending on the gas fractional flow (i.e., foam quality) in porous media 3 . In the high-quality regime, the pressure gradient along the core is nearly independent of gas superficial velocity, while in the low-quality regime, the pressure gradient is nearly independent of liquid superficial velocity. For a constant total superficial velocity, the high-quality regime is the range of foam quality where the pressure gradient decreases with an increasing foam quality, whereas in the low-quality regime the pressure gradient increases with the increasing foam quality.Most foam models currently in use are built on the concept of the limiting capillary pressure (P c * ), above which foam becomes unstable 4,5 . A basic assumption of these models is that foam in porous media only affects the gas mobility (quotient of the gas relative permeability by its viscosity) and the liquid mobility remains unchanged. This of course simplifies the models and reduces the number of the input parameters based on the experimental observations [6][7][8][9][10] . Bernard et al. 10 were the first to conclude that for a given water saturation presence of foam does not affect liquid relative permeability. Figure 2 in ref. 10 compares the water relative permeability in presence and absence of the foaming agent in a 3.5-Darcy sandpack. At 0.01 wt% and 1.0 wt% surfactant concentrations, the water relative permeability deviates from the rest of the data points. The difference becomes even more pronounced when the data points are plotted on a logarithmic scale. At the lower concentration of 0.01 wt%; however, the presence ...

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“…It is observed from Figure 8 which simply shows the processes of emulsion formation and separation [11]. The first step of separating the emulsion is started owning to relatively weak repulsive forces, and if the adhesion energy is sufficiently large, adhesion is sure to be facilitated, which is the so-called flocculation phenomenon [27]. Once the interface film breaks, a significant coalescence process of droplets is immediately taking place.…”

Section: Emulsion Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthesis and Interface Activity of a Series of Carboxylic Quaternary Ammonium Surfactants in Hydraulic Fracturing

et al. 2019

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Hydraulic fracturing is an important technology for the development of unconventional resources, while the foam fracturing plays an essential role for the oil recovery in hydraulic fracturing. To further explore the anion effect of quaternary ammonium cationic surfactants on their relative performances, four fatty acid surfactants were prepared (cetyltrimethylammonium acetate (CTAAC), cetyltrimethylammonium butyrate (CTABU), cetyltrimethylammonium hexanoate (CTAHE), and cetyltrimethylammonium caprylate (CTACA)). The effect of anions on surface tension and foaming properties were discussed, and the emulsion stability was also investigated. The experimental results were presented that the CTAAC possesses the highest surface activities compared with other members in the prepared surfactants. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) and surface tension at the CMC (γCMC) increase as increasing methylene segments in the anions, the maximum surface excess concentration (Γmax), and minimum area per molecule (Amin) present an opposite trend with the increase of methylene segments. The CTAAC exhibits the best performances on foamability and foam stability than other synthesized surfactants at 70°C; the initial foam height (H0) and the foam height ratio (R3) at 0 min and 3 min are 34.9 cm and 52.9%, respectively; this is due to the lowest surface tension and shortest methylene segments. In addition, the emulsion stability was shown to follow the order of CTAAC>CTABU>CTAHE>CTACA.

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Effect of surfactant concentration on foam: From coreflood experiments to implicit-texture foam-model parameters

Cited by 74 publications

References 34 publications

Experimental study on stability and rheological properties of aqueous foam in the presence of reservoir natural solid particles

Experimental study on stability and rheological properties of aqueous foam in the presence of reservoir natural solid particles

Effect of Foam on Liquid Phase Mobility in Porous Media

Synthesis and Interface Activity of a Series of Carboxylic Quaternary Ammonium Surfactants in Hydraulic Fracturing

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