An Experimental Investigation of Multi-Phase Flow and the Effect of Fracture on Enhanced Oil Recovery in the Porous Medium

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

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

Abstract

Strategies for extracting residual oil in the reservoir are called enhanced oil recovery. One of the usual methods of enhanced oil recovery is the water alternating gas injection. The study of this injection method in a two-dimensional porous medium has been less considered. In this study, two porous media were made using a 3D printer. One is simple, and the other has a horizontal fracture. Nitrogen gas and water have been used in three different scenarios, in the form of a single injection of gas, water, and the water alternating gas injection, to increase the oil recovery. Then, the recovery of each injection scenario was calculated by processing the captured images. This study showed that the water alternating gas injection in the simple medium swept about 55% of the medium, which was more than 6 times the injection of gas and more than 2.5 times the injection of water. water alternating gas injection also swept about 38% of the fracture medium, which was 2.5 times more than the other two injection scenarios. The reason for the difference in recovery between the two media in water alternating gas injection is the negative impact of fracture. Also, the difference between water alternating gas injections and single injections can be found in the pressure drop diagram. The water alternating gas injection pressure drop consisted of separate injections of gas and water.

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References

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Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 54, Issue 11
February 2023
Pages 2499-2518

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