A systematic approach to alkaline-surfactant-foam flooding of heavy oil: microfluidic assessment with a novel phase-behavior viscosity map.

ABSTRACT: The apparent viscosity of viscous heavy oil emulsions in water can be less than that of the bulk oil. Microfluidic flooding experiments were conducted to evaluate how alkali-surfactant-foam enhanced oil recovery (ASF EOR) of heavy oil is affected by emulsion formation. A novel phase-behavior viscosity map-a plot of added salinity vs. soap fraction combining phase behavior and bulk apparent viscosity information-is proposed as a rapid and convenient method for identifying suitable injection compositions. The characteristic soap fraction, [Formula: see text], is shown to be an effective benchmark for relating information from the phase-viscosity map to expected ASF flood test performance in micromodels. Characteristically more hydrophilic cases were found to be favorable for recovering oil,

SUBMITTER: Vavra E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7395747 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature