Effect of Foam on Permeability of Porous Media to Gas

1964 ◽  
Vol 4 (03) ◽  
pp. 267-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
George G. Bernard ◽  
L.W. Holm
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Gas Flow ◽  
Gas Permeability ◽  
Absolute Permeability ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Foaming Agent ◽  
Foaming Agents ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
Surface Active

Abstract Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the effect of foam on gas flow in porous media. Previous studies have indicated that foam may be applicable as a restrictive agent in influencing underground gas flow. Foam was found to be exceedingly effective in reducing the permeability of porous media to gas. Consolidated and unconsolidated sands with specific permeabilities of 100 to 146,000 md had, in the presence of foam, gas permeabilities that were less than 1 per cent of the specific permeability; in many cases the gas permeability was practically zero. Foam reduced the gas permeability of loose sand to a much greater degree than that of a tight sand. For example, the permeability of a 125,000-md sand was reduced to 3 md while the permeability of a 4,000-md sand was reduced to 7 md. This effect should cause, to some degree, a selective plugging of high permeability channels in various oil displacement processes. The presence of oil in a porous medium decreased the effectiveness of foam in reducing gas permeability; apparently oil acts as a foam depressant. However, it was found that certain foaming agents were very effective in reducing permeability even in the presence of oil. Also, continuous injection of other foaming agents increased their effectiveness, when oil was present. The effect of foam on permeability of porous media to gas was studied as a function of foaming agent concentration and injection rate, absolute permeability, total pressure, pressure gradient, length of porous system, brine concentration and time. Introduction The use of surface active agents in flood water to increase the recovery of oil has been studied in the laboratory and in the field for decades, with rather limited success. In recent years a new approach to the problem was proposed. Instead of using an aqueous solution of surfactant as an oil recovery agent, Bond and Holbrook proposed that the oil recovery agent he a mixture of surfactant solution and gas. In their method, a water-soluble surface active agent with foam-producing characteristics is injected into an underground formation as an aqueous slug. This slug is followed by gas to produce a foam within the rock. Foams are defined as "agglomerations of gas bubbles separated from each other by thin liquid films." A foam is fundamentally an unstable system. The foam process for oil recovery has since been studied by other investigators. Fried has shown that foam can displace from porous structures oil that normally is unrecoverable by conventional water or gas drives. This superior oil displacing action is believed to be the result of several factors:foam introduces into the reservoir many resilient interfaces of various sizes and curvatures, which increase the probability that a proper combination of forces for oil displacement will be created;foam has appreciable viscosity which improves mobility ratio and contact efficiency;foam accentuates the trapped gas effect because high gag saturations are possible without producing high gas/oil ratios. Deming studied the effect of various foam properties on the displacement of liquid. He found thathigh foaming ability favors high displacement efficiency;high foam stability is not necessary for high displacement efficiency;displacement efficiency decreases with increase in plasticity of foam anddisplacement efficiency is unaffected by surface tension of foaming agent solution. One of the important aspects of this oil recovery process is the effect of foam on gas permeability. The simultaneous flow of gas and liquid in porous media has been studied by numerous investigators and a large amount of literature exists on the subject. In this previous work, gas and liquid have generally been considered as essentially independent phases, whose flow characteristics are related through the saturation parameter. Foam, however, is a material with properties that are considerably different from those of its components; for example, the viscosity of a foam is greater than either of its components. SPEJ P. 267ˆ

Experimental Investigation of Enhanced Oil Recovery by Thermal Foam Flooding

2011 ◽  
Vol 236-238 ◽  
pp. 814-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Qing Liu ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Peng Cheng Hou ◽  
Bing Ke Wang
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Resistance Factor ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Liquid Ratio ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Foaming Agent ◽  
Foaming Agents ◽  
Nitrogen Foam ◽  
Foam Flooding

Foam has been widely used in petroleum industry. It could enhance oil recovery by the means of improving mobility ratio, selective plugging and lowering the interfacial tension(IFT) of oil and water. The influences of concentration, temperature, gas-liquid ratio, permeability and oil saturation on the plugging property of 3 foaming agents were studied experimentally. The foaming agent concentration and the ratio of steam to nitrogen for thermal foam flooding were optimized. Displacement experiments were performed to investigate the EOR effect of 2# foaming agent. It was shown that the resistance factor increased with the increase of the concentration, gas-liquid ratio and permeability and the increase velocity slowed down in the later period of experiments. The optimal concentration was 0.5wt% and the optimum gas-liquid ratio was 1:1. The resistance factor reduced with increasing oil saturation. The plugging ability lost when the oil saturation was greater than 0.2. The resistance factors of 1# and 2# foaming agents decreased with increasing temperature but 3# increased. The best concentration was 0.6wt% and the ratio of steam to nitrogen was 3:2 for steam and nitrogen foam flooding. In the process of thermal foam flooding, oil recovery increased by 20.82%, and the sweep efficiency and displacement efficiency was 13% and 24.6% , separately.

scholarly journals The Role of Reservoir Microflora in the Process of Oil Displacement with Combined Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Method

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 207 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.I. Svarovskaya ◽  
L.K. Altunina
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Gas Permeability ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Microbiological Method ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Oil Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Porous Volume ◽  
White Tiger

<p>A combined physico-chemical and microbiological method has been developed to enhance oil recovery. The method has been developed taking into account both oil properties and microbiological characteristics of the formation waters in White Tiger oil field. Total number of microflora in the formation water exceeded 2·10<sup>7</sup> cell/cm<sup>3</sup>. The solution of IKhN-KA system applied as a stimulating substrate increased the number of microflora by 5-6 orders. Due to active enzyme system microorganisms were capable to affect oil fixed on the porous rock. The contact of microorganisms with oil was accompanied with hydrocarbon destruction and with the accumulation of metabolism products. As a result rheological properties of oil were changed. During 10 days of microflora cultivation in contact with oil total biodestruction of n-alkanes in oil recovered from White Tiger oil field ranged from 76 to 81%. Filtration properties and oil-displacing capacity were studied using core reservoir models at 120 °C and at a pressure of 4 MPa under the conditions simulating those observed in White Tiger oil field. Porous volume of the model was 108.2 cm<sup>3</sup>, gas permeability averaged 0.712 D, core length - 26 cm. Oil displacement efficiency amounted to 57.4%. Using a combined physico-chemical and microbiological method one increased oil displacement efficiency by 14.2%.</p>

scholarly journals A Study on the Adjustment of Emulsification Degree to Interlayer Interference in Class III Reservoir

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Huang ◽  
Tingge Dai ◽  
Hongjuan Liu ◽  
Cheng Fu ◽  
Tingting Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Chemical System ◽  
Emulsion System ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Fractional Flow ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
Profile Control ◽  
Oil Displacement Efficiency

Emulsions play an important role in enhancing oil recovery during the reservoir flooding process. In order to reveal the profile control ability and the effect of adjustments to the interlayer interference during the migration of the emulsion in the porous media, a stable emulsion system and an alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) system were selected to simulate the underground emulsification process by verifying influencing factors of the emulsion. A parallel-core displacement experiment was used to investigate the oil displacement efficiency and the difference of fractional flow in each layer under different emulsification degrees and different permeability contrasts. The results indicate that the stability of the emulsion is related to the shearing strength, the water content, and the type and concentration of chemical system. The oil displacement efficiency of emulsion flooding is better than that of ASP flooding. For parallel core with an average permeability of 40 mD and a permeability contrast of 2, the emulsion flooding can enhance oil recovery by 21.16% compared to water flooding. With increasing permeability contrast, the oil recovery percent of emulsion flooding will further increase. The emulsion system has good profile control ability. Within a certain range, the stronger the heterogeneity of porous media, the better the effect of emulsification on the adjustment of the interlayer interference.

Effect of Foam on Trapped Gas Saturation and on Permeability of Porous Media to Water

1965 ◽  
Vol 5 (04) ◽  
pp. 295-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
George G. Bernard ◽  
W.L. Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Porous Medium ◽  
Porous Media ◽  
Pressure Gradient ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Free Water ◽  
Foaming Agent ◽  
Foaming Agents ◽  
Gas Saturation ◽  
Trapped Gas

Abstract The effect of foam on the permeability of porous media to water was studied as a function of foaming agent concentration, specific permeability, pressure gradient, length of a porous medium and its oil saturation. At a given fluid saturation in a porous medium, the permeability to water was found to be the same whether foam was present or not. Foam decreases the permeability to water by developing a higher trapped gas saturation than that obtained by water flooding without foam present. Increasing the concentration of foaming agent increased the trapped gas saturation and thereby decreased the permeability to water. The presence of oil reduced the capability of most foaming agents to decrease the permeability of a porous medium to water. A few surfactants were found to be effective foaming agents even in the presence of oil. These results are similar to those reported in a previous paper on the effect of foam on the permeability of porous media to gas. The effect of foam was found to persist in long porous media at moderately high reservoir temperatures and during the passage of many pore volumes of surfactant-free water. Introduction This paper describes part of a study on. a novel approach in the use of surfactants for oil recovery; the use of foam rather than water to displace oil. Previously it was found that foam can displace oil which normally is not displaced by water. The foam is formed by successively injecting a suitable surfactant solution and gas into a porous medium. Foam appears to have at least two uses in the field:it shows promise as a superior oil recovery agent, andit shows promise as a selective permeability reducing agent. Foam may be very useful in water floods, or in other oil recovery processes, where highly permeable streaks or unfavorable mobility ratios are a problem. A previous paper reported the effect of foam on the permeability of porous media to gas. In the present study the effect of foam on the permeability of porous media to water is reported. The specific objectives of the study were to determine:the effect of foam on the permeability to water in porous media of various specific permeabilities,the effect of foam on the permeability to water in the presence of oil,the effect of foam and crude oil on the trapped gas saturation,the effect of foam on permeability to water at trapped gas saturation,the effect of pressure gradient on the permeability to water under foaming conditions,the persistence of foam during the passage of surfactant-free water through the porous medium, andthe effect of various foaming agents, length of the porous medium and temperature on the permeability reduction caused by foam. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS The experimental apparatus consisted of consolidated and unconsolidated porous media, wet test meters and constant delivery pumps. The porous media consisted of consolidated sandstone cores (6 to 36 in. long), and unconsolidated sand packs (3 to 30 ft long). The consolidated cores had permeabilities of 32 and 1,000 md and porosities of about 20 per cent. The sand packs had permeabilities of 3,500 to 211,000 md and porosities of about 40 per cent. (Throughout this report a term such as "100 md sand" is used. This term means that the porous medium had a dry, nitrogen permeability of 100 md.)Fluids used in the experiments were distilled water, 1 per cent NaCl solution, aqueous solutions of foaming agents, nitrogen gas, air and crude oil. SPEJ P. 295ˆ

Research and Application of Multi-Slug and Equi-Fluidity Oil Displacement Mechanism

2015 ◽  
Vol 733 ◽  
pp. 43-46
Author(s):  
Jiang Min Zhao ◽  
Tian Ge Li
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Gradient ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Recovery Rate ◽  
Actual Situation ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Displacement Method ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
Oil Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Swept Volume

In this paper, several aspects of the improvement of the oil recovery were analyzed theoretically based on the mechanism that equi-fluidity enhances the pressure gradient. These aspects include the increase of the flow rate and the recovery rate, of the swept volume, and of the oil displacement efficiency. Also, based on the actual situation, the author designed the oil displacement method with gathered energy equi-fluidity, realizing the expectation of enhancing oil recovery with multi-slug and equi-fluidity oil displacement method.

scholarly journals Low-Abundance Dietzia Inhabiting a Water-Flooding Oil Reservoir and the Application Potential for Oil Recovery

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Peike Gao ◽  
Hongbo Wang ◽  
Guanxi Li ◽  
Ting Ma
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Oil Reservoir ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
Recovery Potential ◽  
Oil Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Application Potential ◽  
Nutrient Injection

With the development of molecular ecology, increasing low-abundance microbial populations were detected in oil reservoirs. However, our knowledge about the oil recovery potential of these populations is lacking. In this study, the oil recovery potential of low-abundance Dietzia that accounts for less than 0.5% in microbial communities of a water-flooding oil reservoir was investigated. On the one hand, Dietzia sp. strain ZQ-4 was isolated from the water-flooding reservoir, and the oil recovery potential was evaluated from the perspective of metabolisms and oil-displacing test. On the other hand, the strain has alkane hydroxylase genes alkB and P450 CYP153 and can degrade hydrocarbons and produce surfactants. The core-flooding test indicated that displacing fluid with 2% ZQ-4 fermentation broth increased 18.82% oil displacement efficiency, and in situ fermentation of ZQ-4 increased 1.97% oil displacement efficiency. Furthermore, the responses of Dietzia in the reservoir accompanied by the nutrient stimulation process was investigated and showed that Dietzia in some oil production wells significantly increased in the initial phase of nutrient injection and sharply decreased along with the continuous nutrient injection. Overall, this study indicates that Dietzia sp. strain has application potential for enhancing oil recovery through an ex situ way, yet the ability of oil recovery in situ based on nutrient injection is limited.

An Experimental Study of Controlled Gas-Phase Combustion in Porous Media for Enhanced Recovery of Oil and Gas

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier E. Sanmiguel ◽  
S. A. (Raj) Mehta ◽  
R. Gordon Moore
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Porous Media ◽  
Gas Phase ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Gas Flow ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Enhanced Recovery ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Operating Pressure

Abstract Gas-phase combustion in porous media has many potential applications in the oil and gas industry. Some of these applications are associated with: air injection based improved oil recovery (IOR) processes, formation heat treatment for remediation of near well-bore formation damage, downhole steam generation for heavy oil recovery, in situ preheating of bitumen for improved pumping, increased temperatures in gas condensate reservoirs, and improved gas production from hydrate reservoirs. The available literature on gas-phase flame propagation in porous media is limited to applications at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature, where the main application is in designing burners for combustion of gaseous fuels having low calorific value. The effect of pressure on gas-phase combustion in porous media is not well understood. Accordingly, this paper will describe an experimental study aimed at establishing fundamental information on the various processes and relevant controlling mechanisms associated with gas-phase combustion in porous media, especially at elevated pressures. A novel apparatus has been designed, constructed and commissioned in order to evaluate the effects of controlling parameters such as operating pressure, gas flow rate, type and size of porous media, and equivalence ratio on combustion characteristics. The results of this study, concerned with lean mixtures of natural gas and air and operational pressures from atmospheric (88.5 kPa or 12.8 psia) to 433.0 kPa (62.8 psia), will be presented. It will be shown that the velocity of the combustion front decreases as the operating pressure of the system increases, and during some test operating conditions, the apparent burning velocities are over 40 times higher than the open flame laminar burning velocities.

Effect of Chromatographic Transport in Hexylamine on Displacement of Oil by Water in Porous Media

1964 ◽  
Vol 4 (03) ◽  
pp. 231-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.S. Michaels ◽  
Arnold Stancell ◽  
M.C. Porter
Keyword(s):  
Contact Angle ◽  
Porous Media ◽  
Interfacial Tension ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Massachusetts Institute ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
Increased Oil Recovery

MICHAELS, A.S., MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. MEMBER AIME STANCELL, ARNOLD, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. PORTER, M.C., MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. Abstract Previous laboratory studies have demonstrated that the injection of small quantities of reverse wetting agents during water displacement can increase oil recovery from unconsolidated porous media. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to determine more fully the effects of reverse wetting treatments and to clarify the mechanism by which increased oil recovery is effected Water-oil displacements were performed in beds of 140–200 mesh silica sand. Hexylamine slugs (injected after 0.25 pore volume of water through put), when adequate in size and concentration, were effective in promoting additional oil recovery. Their effectiveness increased with the quantity of amine injected. However, slugs of sufficient size and concentration to stimulate oil production at water flow rates of 34 ft/day did not do so at 4 ft/day.Visual studies in a glass grid micromodel have shown that the stimulation of oil production, via aqueous bexylamine, is a result of transient changes in the oil wettability of the pore walls. If the am in e slug is of sufficient size and concentration to induce significant changes in the adhesion-tension, large continuous oil masses will be formed. If the superficial water velocity is high enough to result in rapid desorption of the am in e, a favorable "wettability gradient" may be established across the masses; under such conditions, high oil mobility is observed, and increased oil recovery results. Introduction It is generally agreed that the efficiency of oil displacement by water in porous media is limited in part by capillary forces which cause the retention of isolated masses of oil - resulting in the so-called "irreducible minimum oil saturation". Recent estimates indicate that there are about 220 billion bbl of petroleum in United States reservoirs which are not economically recoverable with present techniques (such as water flooding). This amounts to almost five times the known recoverable reserves. It has been recognized for some time that a suitable alteration in the water-oil interfacial tension and/or the contact angle, as measured between the water-oil interface and the solid surface, should result in better displacement efficiency. Surface active agents can be used as interfacial tension depressants to accomplish this objective, but unfortunately, the additional oil recovery is seldom commensurate with the treatment cost.In contrast to interfacial tension depressants, the effect of contact angle alterations on water- oil displacements has received relatively little attention in the literature. It is known that the wettability affects the displacement process. Displacements in water-wet systems generally result in lower residual oil saturations than those in oil-wet systems. The effect of "transient" wettability alterations concurrent with the displacement process have been investigated by Wagner, Leach and coworkers, wherein it has been demonstrated that the establishment of water- wet conditions during water flooding of oil-wet, oil-saturated porous media is accompanied by significant increase in oil displacement efficiency. Michaels and Timmins studied the effects of transient contact angle alterations resulting from chromatographic transport of reverse wetting agents through unconsolidated sand. It was demonstrated that chromatographic transport of short-chain (C4 through C8) primary aliphatic amines can improve oil recovery and that the recovery increases with the quantity of amine injected (i.e., with either the amine concentration or the volume of the slug injected). Circumstantial evidence indicated that the increased displacement efficiency resulted primarily from transient changes in wettability of the porous medium.In the present investigation, additional information has been obtained on the effects of reverse wetting treatments and the mechanism by which increased oil recovery is accomplished. SPEJ P. 231^

The Screening of Oil Resistant Foaming Agents and Oil Displacement Effect Evaluation of Foam Flooding

2014 ◽  
Vol 694 ◽  
pp. 354-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ke Liang Wang ◽  
Xue Li ◽  
Shu Jie Sun ◽  
Jin Yu Li ◽  
Yuan Yuan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Effect Evaluation ◽  
Displacement Effect ◽  
Foaming Agents ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Gas Channeling ◽  
Foam Flooding ◽  
Low Tension

The poor oil resistance of traditional foam system leads to gas channeling and low oil recovery in the process of foam flooding field trial. Aiming at this phenomenon, a new oil resistant and low tension foam system is proposed. Firstly, dodecyl hydroxypropyl phosphate betaine and fluorocarbon 101005 were selected as oil resistant foaming agents from several high performance foaming agents. Then, mixed the two agents with low tension betaine in certain proportions to form oil resistant and low tension foam system and compared oil displacement effect with single foam system, traditional foam system and single low tension system. Experimental results show that, foam performance of oil resistant and low tension foam system is the best in the presence of oil, and the foam flooding recovery reaches to 16.10%, which is much higher than that of single foam system, traditional foam system and single low tension system.

Study on Influence of Injection Method on the Effect of Oil Displacement of Nanometer Microspheres

2013 ◽  
Vol 734-737 ◽  
pp. 1272-1275
Author(s):  
Ji Hong Zhang ◽  
Zhi Ming Zhang ◽  
Xi Ling Chen ◽  
Qing Bin He ◽  
Jin Feng Li
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Experimental Result ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
Profile Control ◽  
Oil Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Injection Methods ◽  
The One ◽  
Deep Profile ◽  
Enhance Oil Recovery

Nanometer microspheres injection is a new deep profile control technology. Nanometer microspheres could inflate with water, resulting in plugging step by step in reservoirs, which could improve the swept efficiency in the reservoir and enhance oil recovery. By using non-homogeneous rectangular core, oil displacement efficiency experiment was conducted for studying the influence of different injection methods on the effect of injection nanometer microspheres. The experimental result shows that, compared with development effect of single-slug injection or triple-slug injection, the one of double-slug injection is better. Nanometer microspheres can enhance oil recovery significantly in medium and low permeability reservoir.

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