Foams in Enhancing Petroleum Recovery

Schramm, Laurier L.; Isaacs, E.E.

doi:10.1002/9781119954620.ch13

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…10 In general, foam is a system in which the gas phase is dispersed in the liquid phase. 11 Various gases such as N 2 , CO 2 , air, and natural gas can be used as the gas phase. 12 CO 2 foam is one of the most appealing displacing fluids for EOR, and the results are 2-fold: first, CO 2 foam effectively inhibits the gas breakthrough caused by viscous fingering and gravity override during CO 2 gas flooding; 13−15 second, upon the foam breakup, majority of the released CO 2 would be permanently stored in the formation and thus the global warming can be alleviated in this manner.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigations and MD Simulation on Nanoparticle-Enhanced CO₂-Responsive Foam (NECRF): Implications on CO₂-EOR

Gao,

Wang,

Trivedi

et al. 2024

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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CO2-responsive foam (CRF) is a highly promising candidate for CO2-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) because it displays higher stability than the surfactant-stabilized foam owing to the formation of robust wormlike micelles (WLMs) upon exposure to CO2. In this work, the nanoparticle-enhanced CO2-responsive foam (NECRF) was properly prepared using lauryl ether sulfate sodium (LES)/diethylenetriamine/nano-SiO2, and its interfacial properties and EOR potential were experimentally and numerically assessed, aiming to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of NECRF as a novel CO2-EOR technique. It was found that the interfacial expansion elastic modulus increased 6-fold after CO2 stimulation. The modulus continued to increase with the introduction of nano-SiO2 owing to the pronounced synergistic effect of WLMs and nanoparticles. In addition to increasing the viscosity of the foaming liquid, WLMs and nano-SiO2 enhanced the shearing resistance of the NECRF as well. Calculations demonstrated that both the coarsening rate and the size distribution uniformity coefficient of NECRF were markedly lower than that of the LES foam, which subsequently inhibited NECRF decay and greatly improved its dynamic stability. Besides, molecular dynamics simulation revealed that adding inorganic salts to NECRF could notably enhance the foaming performance due to the intensified hydration of surfactant head groups and reduced binding energy of neighboring molecules. Nuclear magnetic resonance-assisted core flooding experiments validated the exceptional capacity of NECRF to sweep the low-permeability region and improve the conformance profile. Overall, these findings may provide valuable insights into the development and application of novel materials and strategies for the CO2-EOR.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigations and MD Simulation on Nanoparticle-Enhanced CO₂-Responsive Foam (NECRF): Implications on CO₂-EOR

Gao,

Wang,

Trivedi

et al. 2024

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…Thermal processes such as steam flooding, cyclic steam stimulation, and steam‐assisted gravity drainage, are widely used for the in‐situ extraction of oil from heavy oil and oil sands reservoirs where steam can reduce heavy oil viscosity. [ 10–12 ] To remain competitive, in‐situ heavy oil extraction operations must continue to lower the steam/oil volume ratio and to increase oil recovery. Solvent and surfactant, the important components in the OL foam, are potential additives to improve the efficiency and performance of in‐situ oil recovery processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, OL foam can be used as a mobility control agent by increasing the apparent viscosity of the solvent/water media (i.e., decreased mobility of displacing fluid) and diverting the solvent or surfactant solution towards the untouched parts of the reservoir. [ 10,11 ] Although there have yet to be any field studies on the use of foaming agent and solvent for heavy oil recovery, the successful application of OL foam has the potential to significantly improve oil recovery in reservoirs with high heterogeneity. [ 18,19 ] For hybrid steam‐solvent applications, foam may improve steam propagation as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation and stability of oil‐laden foam: Effect of surfactant and hydrocarbon solvent

Lin

Huang

et al. 2021

Can J Chem Eng

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Oil‐laden (OL) foams could serve an important role in various processes, particularly in enhanced oil recovery; however, OL foams are less studied than aqueous foams. In this work, the formation and stability of OL foam, by either sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) or Triton X‐100 (TX‐100) in water‐pentane mixture, was evaluated. We first constructed a diagram of good and poor foaminess against pentane content in the mixture and aqueous surfactant concentration. It was shown that surfactant onset concentration for good foaming was increased with increasing pentane content. The result was fitted using a mathematical model that considers the surfactant dilution and adsorption effects by pentane. Foam height decay profiles were also monitored. Results indicated that SDS resulted in a more stable foam than TX‐100 at the same critical micelle concentration (CMC). Depending on surfactant concentration, OL foams exhibited strikingly different stability behaviours. Pentane acted as an anti‐foamer at surfactant concentrations at the CMC or lower. However, very high foam stability was displayed at high surfactant concentration (e.g., 3× CMC) and medium to high pentane contents; this is a result contradictory to the predication of entering, spreading, and bridging coefficients in the classic theory. The stable OL foams of this study could be attractive to potential foam applications.

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“…The heat-generating expandable foamed-gel system for profile control and thief zone plugging developed in this paper − uses PAM as the main agent and contains the in situ heating system of nitrite and ammonium. The proposed system has advantages of underground heat generation, high volumetric expansion, good plugging capacity, selective water shutoff, and easy preparation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat-Generating Expandable Foamed Gel Used for Water Plugging in Low-Temperature Oil Reservoirs

Chen

et al. 2018

Energy Fuels

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Polymers are often used for chemical water plugging. When the reservoir temperature is lower than 50 °C, the reaction between polymers and cross-linking agents is very slow, which extensively prolongs the gelation time and even leads to unsuccessful gelation. To overcome such problems, a foamed-gel system that is capable of spontaneous in situ heat generation was developed. The optimal system was identified through the orthogonal test using the gel strength, gelation time, and gel volume as indexes. The test shows that, when the ambient temperature is fixed at 30 °C and the pH value is 6.8, the system performs well. Under such circumstances, the gelation time is 40 h, the gel strength reaches the G grade, and the volumetric expansion ratio at 10 MPa exceeds 130%. Nuclear-magnetic-resonance-based T2 spectra indicate that the foamed gel injected into the rock can effectively plug large pores and, therefore, offset the heterogeneity. It is also found that the foamed gel has great capacity for volumetric expansion-based water plugging. The synchronization between gelation and gas generation is the key to the heat-generating foamed gel. Experiments suggest the properties of the developed heat-generating expandable foamed gel can be manipulated by adjusting pH values to satisfy varied requirements for placement in different reservoirs.

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Foams in Enhancing Petroleum Recovery

Cited by 6 publications

References 69 publications

Experimental Investigations and MD Simulation on Nanoparticle-Enhanced CO₂-Responsive Foam (NECRF): Implications on CO₂-EOR

Experimental Investigations and MD Simulation on Nanoparticle-Enhanced CO₂-Responsive Foam (NECRF): Implications on CO₂-EOR

Formation and stability of oil‐laden foam: Effect of surfactant and hydrocarbon solvent

Heat-Generating Expandable Foamed Gel Used for Water Plugging in Low-Temperature Oil Reservoirs

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Foams in Enhancing Petroleum Recovery

Cited by 6 publications

References 69 publications

Experimental Investigations and MD Simulation on Nanoparticle-Enhanced CO2-Responsive Foam (NECRF): Implications on CO2-EOR

Experimental Investigations and MD Simulation on Nanoparticle-Enhanced CO2-Responsive Foam (NECRF): Implications on CO2-EOR

Formation and stability of oil‐laden foam: Effect of surfactant and hydrocarbon solvent

Heat-Generating Expandable Foamed Gel Used for Water Plugging in Low-Temperature Oil Reservoirs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Experimental Investigations and MD Simulation on Nanoparticle-Enhanced CO₂-Responsive Foam (NECRF): Implications on CO₂-EOR

Experimental Investigations and MD Simulation on Nanoparticle-Enhanced CO₂-Responsive Foam (NECRF): Implications on CO₂-EOR