A Novel Technique to Estimate Water Saturation and Capillary Pressure of Foam in Model Fractures

Foam is applied in enhanced oil recovery to improve the sweep of injected gas and increase oil recovery, by greatly reducing the mobility of gas. In the laboratory, X-ray computed tomography is commonly used to evaluate the performance of foam in core plugs. However, foam properties, such as bubble size and capillary pressure, are much more...

An Experimental Study of Foam Trapping and Foam Mobility in a Model Fracture

By trapping gas, foam can improve the sweep efficiency in enhanced oil recovery. In this study, to understand gas trapping in fractures, we have conducted experiments in a model fracture with a hydraulic aperture of 80 μm. One wall of the fracture is rough, and the other wall is smooth. The fracture is made of two glass plates and the direct...

An Investigation of the Effect of Gravity on Foam in Model Fractures

Gas-injection EOR processes have poor sweep efficiency due to conformance problems including channelling, gravity override and fingering. In naturally fractured reservoirs, sweep efficiency is further jeopardized, because gas breaks through fractures first, leaving most oil behind in the matrix. Strong foam can be created in fractures[1][2],...

Foam Trapping and Foam Mobility in a Model Fracture

Gas injection often suffers from the poor sweep efficiency because of conformance problems, including gravity override, viscous fingering and channelling, as gas has a lighter density and a lower viscosity compared to in-situ fluids. Foam, by encapsulating the gas into separate bubbles in surfactant-contained liquid thin films (lamella), can...