Experimental Study of Surfactant Type Effects on the Foam Stability and Mobility With the Approach of Enhancing Oil Recovery

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

Abstract

One of the methods to enhance oil recovery is the injection of foam into oil reservoirs. The most important restriction on the use of foam in enhancing oil recovery methods is maintaining its stability in the face of the oil phase. In this study, we tried to investigate the factors affecting the foam stability and its apparent viscosity by making laboratory setups. The stability of the bulk foam has been studied by measuring the height variation of the foam types within the vertical column. The stability of the foam bubbles has been investigated by making a transparent Hele-Shaw cell equipped with pressure sensors. The results show that the type of surfactant has a significant effect on the stability of the foam bubbles. Initially, sodium dodecyl sulfate and cocamido propyl hydroxyl sultaine foams showed the highest stability in the presence and absence of oil, respectively. But with the 1: 1 combination of them, the foam stability significantly increases. The results show that foam with a finer texture has a higher viscosity. Also, the quality of the foam directly, and the foam flow rate adversely, affect its apparent viscosity; however, as the foam flow rate increases, its dependence on foam quality is greatly reduced.

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References

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Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 53, Issue 1 (Special Issue)
April 2021
Pages 339-356

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