Experimental study on the effect of interfacial tension on the conformance control of oil-in-water emulsions in heterogeneous oil sands reservoirs

Yu, Long; Dong, Mingzhe; Ding, Boxin; Yuan, Yanguang

doi:10.1016/j.ces.2018.05.033

Cited by 63 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…It is believed that, as the heavy oil is very vicious, the poor sweep efficiency (caused by the consequent adverse water-oil mobility ratio) is the primary problem needing to be resolved by SP flooding instead of the conventional displacement efficiency (for light oil). 2,9,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] By chance, the emulsion mechanism bestows dual functions in enhancing sweep efficiency. First, it reduces the viscosity of the heavy oil (by forming an O/W emulsion), making it easier to flow from a deep reservoir to the producing wells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[22][23][24] McAuliffe 25,26 found that water flows into less permeable regions, leading to extended sweep volumes when an emulsion enters into the more permeable regions and plug them by the Jamin effect. Yu 27,28 found that a fine-emulsion system exhibits good plugging and sweep-volume-enlargement behavior. More recently, Ding 9 performed a microscopic and macroscopic modeling study of SP flooding of heavy oil reservoirs and found that a good-emulsification-oriented (GEO) SP system clearly outperformed conventional ultralow IFT systems when recovering heavy oil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[10][11][12][13][14] However, the resulting high consumption of alkali and severe scaling problems 15 can restrict the application of alkaline chemical systems. 2,9,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] By chance, the emulsion mechanism bestows dual functions in enhancing sweep efficiency. In this case, chemical systems based on alkalis may become increasingly more important for the EOR of heavy oil, especially in the context of SP systems.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is because of the lower sweep efficiency in the previous water flooding step with heavy oil (compared to light oil). Yu 27,28 found that a fine-emulsion system exhibits good plugging and sweep-volume-enlargement behavior. This is obviously different from light-oil EOR processes where IFT reduction seems to play the dominant role.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance of a good‐emulsification‐oriented surfactant‐polymer system in emulsifying and recovering heavy oil

Wang

Ding

et al. 2019

Energy Science & Engineering

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Considering the significant importance of emulsification for heavy oil recovery, a good‐emulsification‐oriented (GEO) (rather than the conventional ultralow interfacial tension (IFT) oriented) surfactant‐polymer (SP) system was employed to remove heavy oil. Specifically, the emulsification behavior and viscosity‐reduction property of heavy oil in porous media were first studied by flood tests. Then, such a GEO SP was used to displace heavy oil for recovery measurement. It is found that first, as migration increases in porous media, the in situ emulsified oil droplets evolve into smaller and more uniform droplets (without coalescence), thus, exhibit self‐adjustment ability to match with, and plug, the pores. An increase in surfactant content and seepage velocity also makes the emulsion's particles smaller and more uniformly distributed. Second, such oil‐in‐water emulsification indeed helps to reduce heavy oil viscosity in porous media and there is an optimal surfactant content for such viscosity reduction: The lower the water cut, the greater the optimal surfactant content, the worse the viscosity‐reduction effect. Third, on its own, the GEO surfactant performs very poorly in recovering heavy oil and is even worse than the single polymer; therefore, such a surfactant should be jointly used with a polymer in an SP system instead of on its own, but an excessive surfactant content in the SP seems to hinder the recovery, while the large slug size tends to contribute significantly to an improved oil recovery.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance of a good‐emulsification‐oriented surfactant‐polymer system in emulsifying and recovering heavy oil

Wang

Ding

et al. 2019

Energy Science & Engineering

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“…Due to the complex pore structure and severe heterogeneity of low permeability reservoirs, causing large volumes of residual oil in the pores, it is imperative to take reasonable measures to reduce the effect of reservoir heterogeneity on ultimate recovery. Numerous technologies for improved oil recovery have been developed to date [1][2][3][4][5]. Polymer flooding is widely used for improved recovery efficiency in China's oilfield development [6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on Distribution Characteristics and Displacement Mechanism of Microscopic Residual Oil in Heterogeneous Low Permeability Reservoirs

2019

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In order to explore the development methods suitable for heterogeneous low permeability reservoirs and study the distribution characteristics of residual oil, photoetched glass and artificial core models with three permeability ratios of 1, 6, and 9 were prepared in this research. Three displacement schemes including polymeric surfactant flooding, polymeric surfactant with binary flooding, and binary flooding were designed at the same expenses to obtain the displacement mechanism of various residual oil saturations. The results show that the best displacement efficiency can be achieved by polymeric surfactant flooding, followed by polymeric surfactant with binary flooding, and binary flooding for the models with the same permeability ratio. Binary flooding mainly activates cluster and oil drop residual oils, polymeric surfactant with binary flooding mainly activates cluster, oil film, and column residual oils, whereas polymeric surfactant flooding mainly activates cluster, oil drop, and column residual oils. In addition, with the increase of the model permeability ratio, the recovery ratio of water flooding decreases, whereas the enhanced oil recovery and the variations in residual oil saturation gradually increase after carrying out different displacement measures. The viscoelastic and shearing effects of the polymeric surfactant flooding system can better displace the residual oil, assisting in the further development of heterogeneous low permeability reservoirs.

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Study on the Synthesis of Sulfonate Displacement Agent from Waste Edible Oil

Xiao,

Lin,

Peng

et al. 2024

Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering

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Experimental study on the effect of interfacial tension on the conformance control of oil-in-water emulsions in heterogeneous oil sands reservoirs

Cited by 63 publications

References 36 publications

Performance of a good‐emulsification‐oriented surfactant‐polymer system in emulsifying and recovering heavy oil

Performance of a good‐emulsification‐oriented surfactant‐polymer system in emulsifying and recovering heavy oil

Study on Distribution Characteristics and Displacement Mechanism of Microscopic Residual Oil in Heterogeneous Low Permeability Reservoirs

Study on the Synthesis of Sulfonate Displacement Agent from Waste Edible Oil

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