Laboratory investigation of the factors impact on bubble size, pore blocking and enhanced oil recovery with aqueous Colloidal Gas Aphron

Abstract

Colloidal Gas Aphron as a mobility control in enhanced oil recovery is becoming attractive; it is also designed to block porous media with micro-bubbles. In this paper, the effects of surfactant concentration, polymer concentration, temperature and salinity on the bubble size of the Colloidal Gas Aphron were studied. Effects of injection rates, Colloidal Gas Aphron fluid composition, heterogeneity of reservoir on the resistance to the flow of Colloidal Gas Aphron fluid through porous media were investigated. Effects of Colloidal Gas Aphron fluid composition and temperature on residual oil recovery were also studied. The results showed that bubble growth rate decreased with increasing surfactant concentration, polymer concentration, and decreasing temperature, while it decreased and then increased slightly with increasing salinity. The obvious increase of injection pressure was observed as more Colloidal Gas Aphron fluid was injected, indicating that Colloidal Gas Aphron could block the pore media effectively. The effectiveness of the best blend obtained through homogeneous sandpack flood tests was modestly improved in the heterogeneous sandpack. The tertiary oil recovery increased 26.8 % by Colloidal Gas Aphron fluid as compared to 20.3 % by XG solution when chemical solution of 1 PV was injected into the sandpack. The maximum injected pressure of Colloidal Gas Aphron fluid was about three times that of the XG solution. As the temperature increased, the Colloidal Gas Aphron fluid became less stable; the maximum injection pressure and tertiary oil recovery of Colloidal Gas Aphron fluid decreased.

Investigation of Stability of CO2 Microbubbles—Colloidal Gas Aphrons for Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Definitive Screening Design

“…Furthermore, an increasing number of studies have found that CGA microbubbles improve oil recovery. Shi [31] highlighted an increase of 26.8% oil recovery by microbubble injection in tertiary conditions. Experiments on microbubbles under secondary recovery core flooding in 2015 by Akai [32] proposed an increase of 13% of oil recovery compared with normal CO 2 injection.…”

Bubble size distribution and stability of CO2 microbubbles for enhanced oil recovery: effect of polymer, surfactant and salt concentrations

“…Unfortunately, these foams tend to become unstable in high-temperature, high-pressure environments, and this lack of stability is a challenge with regard to EOR applications [7]. Recently, microbubbles (defined as having sizes of 10 to 100 μm) have become of interest as a means of removing contaminants from aqueous solutions [8,9], as components of oil well-drilling fluids [10][11][12][13][14] and also with regard to EOR [15][16][17].…”

Formation Damage Induced by Water-Based Alumina Nanofluids during Enhanced Oil Recovery: Influence of Postflush Salinity

“…This mechanism is explained in Figure by monitoring the SDBS concentration within the effluent water. Although unfavorable for this study, the literature reports that the heteroaggregation of Al-NPs could be beneficial for a pore blocking agent study in heterogeneous reservoirs …”

“…Although unfavorable for this study, the literature reports that the heteroaggregation of Al-NPs could be beneficial for a pore blocking agent study in heterogeneous reservoirs. 38 3.2.2. Formation Damage.…”