Foam generation with flow rate

Foam generation with flow rate: Effect of surfactant concentration and gas fraction

Yu, G. (TU Delft Reservoir Engineering)
Rossen, W.R. (TU Delft Reservoir Engineering)
Vincent-Bonnieu, S.Y.F. (Shell Global Solutions International B.V.)

2018

The propagation of foam in an oil reservoir depends on the creation and stability of the foam in the reservoir, specifically the creation and stability of foam films, or lamellae. As the foam propagates far from in injection well, superficial velocity and pressure gradient decrease with distance from the well. Experimental (Friedmann et al., 1994) and theoretical (Ashoori et al., 2011) studies relate concerns about foam propagation at low superficial velocity to the minimum velocity for foam generation near the well (Rossen and Gauglitz, 1990; Gauglitz et al., 2002). The objective of this work is to measure the impact of surfactant concentration and gas fractional flow on foam generation. Theory (Rossen and Gauglitz, 1990; Kam and Rossen, 2003) relates foam generation to gas fractional flow and, indirectly, to the stability of foam films, or lamellae, which in turn depends on surfactant concentration (Apaydin and Kovcsek, 2001). However, the link between foam generation and surfactant concentration has not been established experimentally. In our experiments, nitrogen foam is generated in a core of Bentheimer sandstone. The foamgeneration experiments consist of measuring the critical velocity for foam generation as a function of gas fractional flow at three surfactant concentrations well above the critical micelle concentration. Experimental results show that critical velocity decreases with increasing liquid fraction, as shown by previous foam generation studies (Rossen and Gauglitz, 1990; Friedmann et al., 1991). Additionally, our results show that the critical velocity decreases with increasing surfactant concentration, far above the CMC. We also propose a workflow for screening out the experimental artifacts that can distort the trigger velocity.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ad552697-4722-40c8-a3b1-f22857234718

https://doi.org/10.2118/190398-MS

Society of Petroleum Engineers

2022-02-02

9781613995693

Society of Petroleum Engineers - SPE EOR Conference at Oil and Gas West Asia 2018, 2018-March

SPE EOR Conference at Oil and Gas West Asia, OGWA 2018, 2018-03-26 → 2018-03-28, Muscat, Oman

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

conference paper

© 2018 G. Yu, W.R. Rossen, S.Y.F. Vincent-Bonnieu