Mobility of CO/sub 2/-foam in porous rocks

Conference · Sun May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Pet. Chem., Prepr.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6686966

Lee, H O; Heller, J P

For a miscible displacement at the required reservoir conditions, carbon dioxide must exist as a dense fluid (in the range 0.5 to 0.8 g/cc). Unfortunately, the viscosity of even dense CO/sub 2/ is in the range of 0.03 to 0.08 cp, no more than one twentieth that of crude oil. When CO/sub 2/ is used directly to displace the crude, the unfavorable viscosity ratio produces inefficient oil displacement by causing fingering of the CO/sub 2/, due to frontal instability. In addition, the unfavorable mobility ratio accentuates flow non-uniformities due to permeability stratification or other heterogeneities. The mobility of CO/sub 2/ in porous rock can be decreased by containing it in a foam-like dispersion. Such CO/sub 2/-foams have been proposed as a useful injection fluid in enhanced oil recovery. A critical literature review on general foam rheology is given elsewhere. The foam flooding method modifies the flow mechanism by changing the structure of the displacing fluid at the pore level. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the laboratory measurement of the mobility of CO/sub 2/-foam at different flow rates, carrying out steady-state experiments using real rock samples as the porous media. The mobility of CO/sub 2/-foam is greatly dependent on the single-phase permeability of the rock sample. This is shown by comparison of mobility measurements made with Rock Creek and with Berea sandstones. In addition to presenting the results of these measurements, the operation of the apparatus, the conduct of the experiment and the testing of several features of surfactant suitability at reservoir conditions are briefly discussed.

• Research Organization: New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM (US)
• OSTI ID: 6686966
• Report Number(s): CONF-880659-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Pet. Chem., Prepr.; (United States) Journal Volume: 33:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
CAPILLARY FLOW
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON DIOXIDE INJECTION
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLOIDS
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
DATA
DISPERSIONS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
FOAMS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
INFORMATION
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MINERAL RESOURCES
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
NUMERICAL DATA
OIL FIELDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
POROUS MATERIALS
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCES
RHEOLOGY
ROCKS
SAMPLING
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SURFACTANTS