The Effect of Oil on Foam for Enhanced Oil Recovery: Theory and Measurements

Foam has unique microstructure in pore networks and reduces gas mobility significantly, which improves considerably the sweep efficiency of gas injection. Foam injection is thus regarded as a promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology. One key to success of foam EOR is foam stability in presence of oil. This thesis seeks to understand...

CT coreflood study of transient foam flow with oil

We present a CT coreflood study of foam flow with two representative oils: hexadecane C₁₆ (benign to foam) and a mixture of 80 wt% C₁₆ and 20 wt% oleic acid (OA) (very harmful to foam). The purpose is to understand the transient dynamics of foam, both generated in-situ and pre-generated, as a function of oil saturation...

Three-Phase Fractional-Flow Theory of Foam-Oil Displacement in Porous Media with Multiple Steady States

Understanding the interplay of foam and non-aqueous phases in porous media is key to improving the design of foam for enhanced oil recovery and remediation of aquifers and soils. A widely used implicit-texture foam model predicts phenomena analogous to cusp catastrophe theory: the surface describing foam apparent viscosity as a function of...

CT coreflood study of foam flow for enhanced oil recovery: The effect of oil type and saturation

We present a CT coreflood study of foam, both pre-generated and generated in-situ, displacing oil, as a function of oil type and saturation. Foam generation and propagation are reflected through sectional pressure measurements. Dual-energy CT imaging monitors in-time phase saturations. With an oil less harmful to foam (hexadecane), injection...

Thermodynamic properties of acid gases in mixture with natural gas and water

The reliable removal of acid gas components, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from natural gas is an important technical challenge. Crude oil and hydrocarbon gas streams may contain high levels of CO2 and/or H2S as contaminants. It is desirable to prevent any contaminant to reach the surface, or to considerably reduce the...