Multicomponent, multiphase flow in porous media with temperature variation

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6200807· OSTI ID:6200807

Wingard, J S; Orr, Jr, F M

Recovery of hydrocarbons from porous media is an ongoing concern. Advanced techniques augment conventional recovery methods by injecting fluids that favorably interact with the oil. These fluids interact with the oil by energy transfer, in the case of steam injection, or by mass transfer, as in a miscible gas flood. Often both thermal and compositional considerations are important. An understanding of these injection methods requires knowledge of how temperature variations, phase equilibrium and multiphase flow in porous media interact. The material balance for each component and energy balance are cast as a system of non-strictly hyperbolic partial differential equations. This system of equations is solved using the method of characteristics. The model takes into account the phase behavior by using the Peng-Robinson equation of state to partition the individual components into different phases. Temperature effects are accounted for by the energy balance. Flow effects are modelled by using fractional flow curves and a Stone's three phase relative permeability model. Three problems are discussed. The first problem eliminates the phase behavior aspect of the problem by studying the flow of a single component as it undergoes an isothermal phase change. The second couples the effects of temperature and flow behavior by including a second component that is immiscible with the original component. Phase behavior is added by using a set of three partially miscible components that partition into two or three separate phases. 66 refs., 54 figs., 14 tabs.

• Research Organization: Stanford Univ., CA (USA). Petroleum Research Inst.
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/FE
• DOE Contract Number: FG22-87BC14126
• OSTI ID: 6200807
• Report Number(s): DOE/BC/14126-17; SUPRI-TR--71; ON: DE91002201
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200 -- Mathematics & Computers
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DISPLACEMENT FLUIDS
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EQUATIONS
FLUID FLOW
FLUIDS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MULTIPHASE FLOW
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PHASE STUDIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ROCK
SPECIFIC HEAT
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
VELOCITY