Experimental Validation of the Temperature-Resistant and Salt-Tolerant Xanthan Enhanced Foam for Enhancing Oil Recovery

Abstract

Xanthan enhanced foam (XGF) is a newly developed chemical agent for enhanced oil recovery in high-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs. In this paper, laboratory experiments were performed to characterize the morphology and foam properties of XGF, to study its performance under different temperature and different salinity conditions, respectively. Based on simulate reservoir formation conditions of Xidaliya field, a series of research on XGF were conducted. The experimental results showed that the SEM of XGF reflected a more viscoelastic and stable nature of the foam system. High temperature had a great adverse impact upon the stability of XGF, and the increase of salinity in the solution helped to improve the stability of foam. The foam stability increased remarkably when XG4 is added, and an increase in ambient pressure made enhancement of foam stability became more noticeable. In the presence of crude oil, xanthan could enhance the stability Downloaded by [Columbia University] at 00:21 05 February 2015 2 of emulsions and was more favorable to stabilize foam. XG4 enhanced foam had dramatic properties for mobility controlling and oil displacement in the porous media.

Stability, CO2 sensitivity, oil tolerance and displacement efficiency of polymer enhanced foam

“…This is mainly because of the high viscosities (see Fig. S1 in ESI †) and high degradation resistance at 90 C (as shown in previous studies 15,22 ), which causes the superior foam stability. Therefore, further studies need to be conducted on the CHSB/XG-2 system.…”

Experimental Investigation of a Polymer-Enhanced N2 Foam Performance for Enhanced Oil Recovery

“…If the polymer is salt-resistant, it can improve the compatibility and durability of foam in environments with high salt concentrations. 27 In addition, the polymer can compete with the surfactant at the interface for adsorption, reducing the surfactant adsorption loss and, thereby, enhancing the stability of the foam in the porous media. 28 According to the classification of gas types, foam can generally be divided into air foam, 29,30 CO 2 foam, 31,32 N 2 foam, 33,34 natural gas foam, 35,36 and the like.…”

“…Many scholars have reported relevant studies on foam pseudo-emulsions, including N 2 foam, , natural gas foam, CO 2 foam, etc., which shows that basically all types of foam will form pseudo-emulsions, regardless of the type of gas. If the polymer is salt-resistant, it can improve the compatibility and durability of foam in environments with high salt concentrations . In addition, the polymer can compete with the surfactant at the interface for adsorption, reducing the surfactant adsorption loss and, thereby, enhancing the stability of the foam in the porous media …”

Investigation on Foam Self‐Generation Using In Situ Carbon Dioxide (CO2) for Enhancing Oil Recovery

“…Bulk foam measurements were made using the high‐temperature foaming reactor described in our previous paper (Sun, Wei, & Pu, ). Fifteen milliliters of the foaming solution (i.e., foaming agents and releasing agent [e.g., 5% HA]) was first injected into the reactor, and then 15 mL of the gas producer (i.e., 5% SB) was injected.…”