Scerbacova, Pereponov - 2023 - Visualization of Surfactant Flooding in Tight Reservoir Using Microfluidics
Polymer flooding is one of the most studied and widely applied enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies, implemented in tight and low-permeability reservoirs to mobilize trapped oil. Typically, the selection of chemical compositions for polymer flooding is associated with numerous challenges and limitations, such as time-consuming core flooding tests, high costs of testing with modern saturation control methods, and a limited number of core samples available. To overcome these challenges, microfluidic technology was applied to optimize the screening of surfactant compositions for flooding. The workflow of this project consisted of five main stages: (1) manufacturing of microfluidic chips, (2) volume screening of surfactants, (3) polymer flooding in microfluidic chips, (4) image analysis, and data interpretation.
For the experiments, silicon-glass microfluidic chips were used, which are 2D representatives of the porous medium of a reservoir. The geometry of the porous structure was designed based on CT images of core samples from a specific low-permeability field. The interfacial behavior of selected surfactants at the boundary with n-decane was studied and correlated with their ability to recover hydrocarbons. The results showed that patterns of interfacial tension significantly impact the efficiency of displacement. Thus, surfactants