Experimental Investigation of Foam Stability, Improvement by Nanoparticle and Surfactant in the Presence of Crude Oil

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The gas flooding is one of the most common methods for enhancing oil recovery. However, some problems; such as, gas uptake reduces this method’s efficiency. The foam formation reduces the relative permeability of the gas and improves this technique. However, the generated foam by the combination of water and gas does not have enough stability. Thus, surfactant is used for many years. However, the foam stabilized by surfactants is problematic in high temperatures and salt content. The studies have shown that the foam stabilized with Nanoparticles can endure the harsh conditions. Since the presence of oil in the reservoir is inevitable, investigating the effects of crude oil on the foam is of special importance. In this project, the foam generated by  Nano-silica and SDS is studied. Then the differences between this foam and the foam generated by only surfactant is discussed. The effect of different kinds of crude oils with different viscosities on foam structure is discussed too. For studying the foam ability and foam stability in the presence of different concentration of these crude oils, the static method called “mixing” is used by the setup that is designed for this job. The results show that  nanoparticles do not effect foam ability but increase the foam stability significantly. Regarding the effect of crude oil, it was also determined that the presence of crude oil reduces foam stability and by increasing oil concentration, the stability reduces more. It also turned out that with increasing oil viscosity, foam stability and properties will be improved.
 

Keywords

References

[1]. Koval E., “A method for predicting the performance of unstable miscible displacement in heterogeneous media”, Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal., Vol. 3, pp. 145-154, 1963.##
[2]. Patzek T. W., “Field applications of steam foam for mobility improvement and profile control”, SPE Reservoir Engineering., Vol. 11, pp. 79-86, 1996.##
[3]. Bikerman J., “Foams”, New York: Springer-Verlag., Vol. 10, pp. 65-97, 2013.##
[4]. Lindman B. and Wennerström H., “Micelles”, Springer., Vol. 87, pp. 1-83, 1980.##
[5]. Grigg R. B. and Mikhalin A. A., “Effects of flow conditions and surfactant availability on adsorption”, International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry., Society of Petroleum Engineers., 2007.##
[6]. Binks B. P. and Horozov T. S., “Aqueous foams stabilized solely by silica nanoparticles”, Angewandte Chemie., Vol. 117, pp. 3788-3791, 2005.##
[7]. Ma H., Luo M. and Dai L. L., “Influences of surfactant and nanoparticle assembly on effective interfacial tensions”, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics., Vol. 10, pp. 2207-2213, 2008.##
[8]. Speight J. G., “The chemistry and technology of petroleum”, Springer., Vol. 66, pp. 298-300, 1999.##
[9]. Schramm L. L., “Foam sensitivity to crude oil in porous media”, ACS Advances in Chemistry Series., Vol. 242, pp. 165-197, 1994.##
[10]. Aarra M., Ormehaug P. and Skauge A., “Foams for GOR control-improved stability by polymer additives”, 9th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery., EAGE, 1997.##
[11]. Mannhardt K. and Svorstøl I., “Effect of oil saturation on foam propagation in Snorre reservoir core”, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering., Vol. 23, pp. 189-200, 1999. ##
[12]. Mannhardt K., Novosad J. J. and Schramm L. L., “Comparative evaluation of foam stability to oil”, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering., Vol. 3, pp. 23-34, 2000.##
[13]. Schramm L. L. and Novosad J. J., “Micro-visualization of foam interactions with a crude oil”, Colloids and Surfaces., Vol. 46, pp. 21-43, 1990.##
[14]. Garrett P. R., “Preliminary considerations concerning the stability of a liquid heterogeneity in a plane-parallel liquid film”, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science., Vol. 76, pp. 587-590, 1980.##
[15]. Exerowa D., Kruglyakov P. and Möbius R., “Foam and foam films”, Elsevier., Vol. 5, pp. 1-47, 1997.##
[16]. Denkov N. D., “Mechanisms of foam destruction by oil-based antifoams”, Langmuir., Vol. 20, pp. 9463-9505, 2004.##
[17]. Lobo L. and Wasan D., “Mechanisms of aqueous foam stability in the presence of emulsified non-aqueous-phase liquids: structure and stability of the pseudoemulsion film”, Langmuir., Vol. 9, pp. 1668-1677, 1993.##
[18]. Farzaneh S. A. and Sohrabi M., “Experimental investigation of CO2-foam stability improvement by alkaline in the presence of crude oil”, Chemical Engineering Research and Design.,Vol. 94, pp. 375-389, 2015.##
[19]. Vikingstad A. K., Skauge A., Høiland H. and Aarra M., “Foam–oil interactions analyzed by static foam tests”, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects., Vol. 260, pp. 189-198, 2005.##
[20]. Kitchener J. A., “Foams and free liquid films”, Recent Progress in Surface Science., Vol. 1, pp. 51-93, 1964.##
[21]. Nishioka G. and Ross S., “A new method and apparatus for measuring foam stability”, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science., Vol. 81, pp. 1-7, 1981. ##
[22]. Cui Z. G., Yang L. L., Cui Y. Z. and Binks B. P., “Effects of surfactant structure on the phase inversion of emulsions stabilized by mixtures of silica nanoparticles and cationic surfactant”, Langmuir., Vol. 26, pp. 4717-4724, 2009.##
Journal of Petroleum Research
Volume 27, 96-1 - Serial Number 92
May and June 2017
Pages 152-163

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics