Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 79 (2011) 101112

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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Evaluation of oil foam as a displacing phase to improve oil recovery: A laboratory study
Hazim H. Al-Attar
United Arab Emirates University, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Department, Al-Ain P.O. Box 17555, UAE

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
The objective of this work is to investigate the possibility of considering oil foams for practical use in the recovery of oil. To achieve this objective a multifunction laboratory setup was designed to provide capillary tube-foam viscosity measurements, selective core conguration, selective foam generation scheme, and good control of gas injection-pressure and liquid injection-rate. The porous medium was represented by a 2 ft 2 in. cylindrical Berea sandstone core with absolute permeability of 139.6 md and porosity of 23.1%. Kerosene (viscosity of 1.458 cp) and Nitrogen (specic gravity of 0.9672) were used as the liquid and gas components of the oil foam, respectively. A surfactant with code name FC-432 was used as foaming agent at a concentration of 1% by volume. The effects of imposed pressure differential, slug size of surfactant solution, and gravity on oil displacement by internally-generated foam scheme were investigated. The displacement of oil by externally generated foam was tested for three foam qualities of 70, 80, and 90% under imposed pressure differential of 15 psia. Gas drive and water ood tests were conducted for comparison purposes. Injection pressure in all tests was near 830 psia. The results of this work revealed that oil foams behave as non-Newtonian uids with low yield stress and that their plastic viscosities increase with increased foam quality. Oil recoveries by oil foam displacement were signicantly higher than those observed in gas drive and water drive tests. Vertical core conguration was found to yield higher oil recoveries than horizontal core conguration. Also higher oil recoveries were generally associated with lower imposed pressure drops, lower foam qualities, and larger slug size of surfactant solution. The mechanism of foam ow in the core was deduced from gas breakthrough, relative permeability concepts, and capillary tube model. A new iterative scheme of calculations is proposed to determine average foam saturation inside the core. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 20 December 2010 Accepted 15 August 2011 Available online 23 August 2011 Keywords: foam plastic viscosity miscible displacement non-Newtonian uids EOR oil displacement

1. Introduction Foams may be dened as a relatively homogeneous dispersion of gas in a foaming-surfactant solution and at some shear rates for certain foam qualities they exhibit non-Newtonian uid properties (Calvert and Nezhati, 2003; Liu, Zhang, Guo, and Ghalambor, 2010), Marsden and Khan, 1966; Mitchell, 1971; Weaire, 2007. Foams are composed of a large number of gas/liquid interfaces or lamellae that separate gas bubbles (Kam and Rossen, 2003). These interfaces form thermodynamically unstable systems whose surface energy tends to decrease as they degenerate into gas and liquid phases. Foams can be classied according to their qualities (fraction of the total foam volume which is gas) as dry foams for high quality or strong foams and wet foams for low quality or weak foams (Alvarez et al., 2001; Gauglitz, et al., 2002; Kam and Rossen, 2003). They can

Corresponding author. Tel:. +971 50 5836642; fax: +971 3 7624262. E-mail address: hazim.alattar@uaeu.ac.ae. 0920-4105/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2011.08.013

also be classied according to their bubble size as coarse for large bubble size and ne for small bubble size (Gauglitz et al., 2002). The smaller the bubble the more gasliquid interfaces per unit volume of equal foam qualities. Foams are compressible uids because of the presence of gas and can undergo compression and decompression cycles because of the elasticity of the liquid lms. These lms are stabilized by the surfactant molecules concentrated at the gas/surfactantsolution interface. The viscosity of foam is the physical property of greatest interest to rheologists and engineers. Dry foams have been found to display high apparent viscosities (Calvert and Nezhati, 2003), Marsden and Khan, 1966; Raza and Marsden, 1970; Weaire, 2007. Marsden and Khan (1966) showed the non-Newtonian behavior of foams through their apparent viscosity measurements using a modied Fann VG meter. They found that water foam viscosity decreases as the shear rate increases and that it increases as the foam quality is increased. They considered foam ow in porous media to be dependent on foam viscosity and concluded that the gas and liquid phases in the presence of foaming agents can and usually ow simultaneously through the

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same pore channels in the form of bubbles or froth. Mitchell (1971) measured water foam viscosity under high pressure using 8-ft long capillary tubes of various sizes. Based upon the linearity and the 45 slope of his shear stress-shear rate plots, he concluded that for foam quality in the range of 054% the foam behaved as Newtonian. Also, for foam quality between 54 and 96% foam displayed Newtonian characteristics and laminar ow at shear rates higher than 20,000 s1. At shear rates less than 20,000 s 1 his foam displayed non-Newtonian characteristics. Mitchell's data showed plug ow behavior rather than laminar ow behavior at these lower shear rates. Based on cone and plate rheometer ow and pipe ow, Calvert and Nezhati (2003) showed that ow of foams may be represented by a modied Bingham plastic model, with the addition of a liquid-rich slip layer caused by bubble migration away from a solid-surface. They also observed that yield stress of foams is dependent on bubble size distribution. Modeling of foams with xed bubble size as a Bingham plastic was also proposed by others (Bird et al., 1960). Practical uses of foams in oil and gas reservoirs have increased interest in the mechanism of two-phase ow through porous media in the presence of foam. Foams have been suggested as drilling uids (Holm, 1970; Mitchell, 1971). Such light uids are suitable for operating in reservoirs with low uid pressure where mud weight is a problem. They have also been recommended to prevent gas leakage through cap rocks in storage reservoirs (Bernard and Holm, 1970 and Minssieux, 1972) and are used as fracturing uids (Blauer and Kholhass, 1974; Wheeler, 2010). Foams have also been proposed to improve liquid lifting from low-pressure gas wells (Yang and Siddiqui, 1999) and as cheap, economical and effective light-weight cement for application in formations with a low fracture gradient (Davies and Hartog, 1981). Foam can improve sweep efciency in gas-injection EOR (Schramm, 1994; Rossen, 1996) and surfactant EOR (Li et al., 2008), redirect acid ow in matrix acid stimulation (Gdanski, 1993; Nguyen et al., 2003), and increase the efciency of remediation of aquifers (Hirasaki et al., 2000; Mamun et al., 2002). Foaming injected gases has been found to increase the gasphase resistance dramatically, thereby providing mobility control to improve the sweep efciency and oil production (Chen et al., 2008). The behavior of foam ow in porous media has been investigated experimentally. Using tracer techniques and microscopic observations, Holm (1968) concluded that in the presence of foam, gas and liquid ow separately through porous media and that the liquid moves through the lm network and the gas moves progressively through the system by breaking and reforming bubbles. He also added that in the presence of foam, the effective permeability of the porous medium to each phase is greatly reduced and that this permeability behavior might suggest some ow channel blockage. According to other published gas tracer studies (Friedmann et al., 1991; Radke and Gillis, 1990; Tang and Kovscek, 2006), the fraction of gas trapped within a foam at steady state in sandstones ranges from 85 to 99%. The large gas blockage reduces the relative permeability of the gas phase signicantly and lowers gas mobility further. Minssieux (1972) used sand packs and natural sandstone cores in his experiments. He discussed the effects of using highly effective foaming agents where they can cause complete gas blockage. He concluded that during foam generation inside the pores, it will be invariably regenerated by breaking and reforming of the foam bubbles. He also reported higher oil recoveries with low permeability sandstone cores (130 md) and lower foam qualities (6070%). Bond and Bernard (1966) investigated the rheology of foams in porous media and concluded that liquid ow followed xed channels whether or not foam was present and that these xed channels depends solely upon the liquid saturation. They also stated that a negligible quantity of uid could ow through the liquid membranes of the foam compared with that owing through the liquid channels. Fried (1961) studied the use of water foam in oil recovery and described the ow of foam as non-Newtonian plug type ow. He observed that as foam was injected inside the porous medium an oil bank built up and

the oil recovery was then controlled by (1) ow in previously unaffected pores, (2) the high viscosity of the displacing phase (foam) and (3) the high pressure gradient at the ood front. Fried concluded that higher oil recoveries by foam displacement were mainly attributed to the stability of foam and that foam can be regenerated within the porous medium. Mast (1972) investigated the microscopic behavior of foams in porous media and concluded that some of the liquid and gas may be transported as foam and that their proportions are a function of foam stability. He also concluded that when foam is stable both phase can ow as foam in the porous medium with some breaking and regeneration. Raza (1970) conducted ow experiments of foam in sand packs and naturally consolidated sands. He put pressure taps at equal distances over the entire length of his porous medium and measured the pressure drop across the various sections of the core as a function of time. He observed a linear relationship between the applied pressure differential and the size of the foam-lled portion of the porous medium vs. time. A variety of recent theoretical models have been developed to model foam ow in porous media based on documented laboratory observations. These models rely on the fact that foam texture determines the strength and mobility of foam and that foam texture itself depends on many factors, such as pore structure, surfactant formulation, permeability, capillary pressure, ow rates, and presence of oil phase. Therefore, most of the models modify gas mobility according to the presence of foam. These models range from populationbalance models (Chang et al., 1990; Chen et al., 2008, Fergui et al., 1995; Friedmann et al., 1991; Kovscek et al., 1995; Patzek, 1988;) to empirical and semi-empirical models (Fisher et al., 1990; Mohammadi et al., 1993; Patzek and Myhill, 1989), to fractional-ow theory (Zhou and Rossen, 1995; Rossen, 1996), and to percolation models (Chou, 1990; Rossen and Gauglitz, 1990). The majority of research on the rheology of foams, the mechanics of foam ow in porous media and applications of foams has been in the area of water-based foams. In the present study the capillary tube-viscometer was used to investigate the rheological properties of oil foams of various qualities. The effectiveness of oil foams in displacing oil in a one foot long, naturally consolidated core sample was then examined using a multipurpose experimental setup designed to properly achieve the above objectives. Two major types of ow experiments were conducted, the rst type involves oil displacement by continuous injection of externally-generated oil foam and the second considers oil displacement by internally-generated oil foam. The ow mechanism of oil foam in porous media was investigated by two fundamental concepts; (1) representing the core sample by a bundle of equal length capillary tubes of various diameters, (2) relative permeability and by monitoring gas breakthrough times. A new iterative scheme of calculations is proposed to determine average foam saturation inside the core. 2. Methodology The experimental work performed in this study was designed to address three major issues. The rst part dealt with measurements of foam viscosity using capillary tube viscometer. The second part catered for investigating the effectiveness of oil displacement in porous media by continuous oil foam injection of various foam qualities and by continuous oil foam injection of various foam qualities followed by gas drive. The third part involved investigating the effectiveness of oil displacement in porous media by internally-generated oil foams of two surfactant solution slugs. 2.1. Oil foam viscosity 2.1.1. Equipment and apparatus A schematic ow diagram of the equipment used is illustrated in Fig. 1. The foam generating unit consists of a thick-wall steel pipe

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Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of test apparatus (foam is the displacing phase).

10 in. long and 0.5 in. inside diameter lled with a mixture of 200 mesh sand and very ne glass beads. To keep the sand and beads in place, four layers of glass wool and wire mesh were squeezed at both ends of the steel pipe. A two-cylinder positive displacement pump with 48 different speeds was used to inject the liquid in all experiments. The liquid phase in all experiments is kerosene (sp. gr. of 0.81, viscosity of 1.458 cp at 70 F and surface tension of 25.85 dynes/cm at 70 F). The foaming agent used in all experiments is a product under the code name of FLUORAD FC-432 and Table 1 presents the most important properties of this surfactant. A minimum surface tension of 20.3 dynes/cm was obtained when kerosene was mixed with the above surfactant at a concentration of 1% by volume. The selection of this foaming agent was based on the results of drainage tests conducted on kerosene foams containing various types of surfactants at a concentration of 1% by volume. These results are presented in Table 2. The gas phase used in all tests is nitrogen [sp. gr. of 0.9672 (air = 1) and viscosity of 0.0178 cp at 70 F] which is supplied in special cylinders

at 2500 psi. A pressure regulator was used to regulate gas pressure and a specially designed diaphragm control valve was used to control gas ow rate including extremely low rates. A stainless steel capillary tube (not shown in Fig. 1) 31 in. long and 0.032 in. inside diameter served as the viscometer which was calibrated for kerosene viscosity. A differential cell pressure transducer equipped with a digital readout screen served in continuous display of pressure drop across the capillary tube. The liquid rate leaving the viscometer was continuously monitored in a graduated cylinder and the rate of gas efuent was continuously measured by a wettest meter.

Table 1 Properties of the surface-active agent FLUORAD FC-432. Typical properties Form Color Viscosity Density Refractive index Solubility Water Methyl alcohol Dimethylformamide Isopropyl alcohol Ethyl acetate Cellosolve acetate Methyl ethyl ketone 1, 1, 1-Trichloroethane Perchloroethylene Tolouene Benzene Heptane

25% active in heptane colorless to pale yellow 5.00 cp 0.78 g/cm3 at 25 C 1.4

2.1.2. Foam generation and viscosity measurements The gas (compressed nitrogen) and the surfactant solution (kerosene+ 1% by volume foaming agent) were injected simultaneously into the foam generating unit. The gas was injected at a constant pressure while the surfactant solution was pumped at a constant rate. The generated foam was then passed through the capillary tube viscometer and the pressure drop across the tube was recorded after steady-state ow condition has been reached. The ow line pressure was about 530 psig and the outlet pressure was controlled by a dome-loaded type back pressure regulator, which drew off the produced uids under atmospheric pressure. To calculate foam quality under owing

Table 2 Drainage test for 1% by volume surfactant solutions of various foaming agents; Initial foam volume is 100 cm3 and stirring time is 1 min. Product code FC-432 FC-431 FC-134 FSA FSB FSN Ionic type NA NA Cationic Anionic Amphoteric Nonionic Liquid drained after one hour (cm3) 15 33 67 90 96 96 Notes Stable foam; ne bubbles Stable foam; medium-ne bubbles Unstable foam; coarse bubbles Poor hydrocarbon foaming agent Poor hydrocarbon foaming agent Poor hydrocarbon foaming agent

b 0.2 b 0.2 b 0.2 b 0.2 0.20.5 0.20.5 0.20.5 N 20 N 20 N 20 N 20 N 20

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Fig. 4. Capillary tube-viscosity measurements: water foam (after Mitchell, 1971) and oil foam (present study). Foam quality range: 8082%.

Fig. 2. Oil foam viscosity for three foam quality ranges.

conditions, the gas volume is corrected to owing pressure. Foam quality was varied by adjusting the liquid injection rate. 2.1.3. Results and discussion The results of calculations of shear rates and shear stress for three foam qualities (70, 80 and 90%) are plotted on log-log scale as illustrated in Fig. 2. These plots show some curvature and yield stress which is indicative of non-Newtonian behavior of the kerosene foam. For water foam, Mitchell (1971) demonstrated with 821 pieces of data that his foam behaved as a non-Newtonian uid and closely ts the Bingham-plastic model. The oil foam data obtained in this study seem to compare favorably with Mitchell's data as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5 for foam qualities of 90, 80, and 70%, respectively. In these gures and at high shear rates (between 10 4 and 10 5 s 1), the forward extrapolations of the straight line portion of the oil foam viscosity data become asymptotic to the water foam data. This convergence at high shear rates may indicate that the ow regime of the oil foam is basically laminar and it continues in this regime to much lower shear rates than the water foam measurements. The difference in the

behavior of the two foams at lower shear rates may be attributed to different base liquids and foaming agents used in the two studies. The Bingham model was applied to calculate the plastic viscosity of oil foam and the results for the three foam qualities investigated in this study are illustrated in Fig. 6. The yield stress was found for each foam quality by nding the value of shear stress that would yield the best linear relationship of the data presented in Fig. 2, and the results are presented in Fig. 7. Similar to water foam, oil foam viscosity was found to increase as the foam quality is increased. Oil foams, however, were found to exhibit a little higher viscosity and a much lower yield point than water foams of similar foam quality range. The low yield points observed in oil foams may be attributed to the non-polar nature of the kerosene and the lower surface tension of kerosene-surfactant solution as compared with water-surfactant solution. Modeling of foams as Bingham-plastic uids have been reported by other investigators (Bird et al., 1960; Calvert and Nezhati, 2003; Weaire, 2007). 2.2. Oil displacement by externally generated oil foam 2.2.1. Experimental setup, core sample and core holder assembly The experimental setup shown in Fig. 1 was used in all tests and a 2 ft long 2 in. inside diameter Berea sandstone core was used as the

Fig. 3. Capillary tube-viscosity measurements: water foam (after Mitchell, 1971) and oil foam (present study). Foam quality range: 8992%.

Fig. 5. Capillary tube-viscosity measurements: water foam (after Mitchell, 1971) and oil foam (present study). Foam quality range: 7073%.

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Fig. 6. Plastic viscosity of oil foam.

1.2 cp at 60 F) was injected under variable pressure (5 to 50 psi) at different rates to insure complete saturation. A cumulative volume of 3000 cm 3 of injected distilled water was needed to fully saturate the core. The difference between the weight before and after core saturation was divided by the density of the distilled water to determine the core pore volume (found equal to 287.75 cm 3). The core porosity was then calculated by dividing the pore volume by the bulk volume (1235.33 cm 3) and found equal to 23.108%. The core absolute permeability to water was then measured with the core 100% saturated with distilled water and found equal to 139.6 md. This value is very close to that obtained from the application of Klinkenberg standard procedure. Kerosene was then injected to displace the distilled water until no traces of water appeared in the efuent. About two pore volumes of kerosene had to be injected in the core sample to reach the irreducible water saturation (Swir) at 30%. Consequently, the initial kerosene saturation (hydrocarbon pore volume) was 70% which is equivalent to 200 cm 3. The core effective permeability to kerosene (ko) was then measured at Swir and found equal to 98 md. 2.2.3. External foam generation Foam was injected into the core sample in a horizontal position by two methods: 1. Continuous foam injection Foam of a pre-determined quality was generated in the foam generating unit (see Fig. 1) and continuously injected into the core sample for the full term of the experiment. Oil displacement and recovery by this foam injection scheme were observed and monitored vs. time under a pressure differential of 15 psi across the core. Tests were performed for foam qualities of 70, 80, and 90% with injection pressure near 830 psi. 2. Slug injection of foam foam was generated in the foam generating unit and continuously injected into the core sample until free gas production broke through at the outlet. From the time of gas break through only gas was injected under the same pressure conditions. Oil displacement and recovery by this foam slug followed by gas injection scheme was monitored vs. time under a pressure differential of 15 psi across the core. Tests were performed for foam qualities of 70, 80, and 90% with injection pressure near 830 psi. 2.2.4. Core cleaning After each test liquid propane was injected into the core sample at 150 psi for 8 to 10 h. Liquid propane has the ability of extracting the foaming agent that has been adsorbed by the sand grains without affecting the irreducible water saturation. Vacuum was then pulled at one end of the core for 5 h while the other end connected to the kerosene pump. The purpose of vacuuming is to extract the residual liquid propane in the core. Pure kerosene was then injected at a rate of 224 cm 3/h to ensure complete core cleaning and re-saturation. The surface tension of the efuent kerosene was continuously measured and compared with that of the pure kerosene, and when the two values were equal, the porous medium was free of any residual foaming agent. At that point the effective core permeability to kerosene was found to restore its original value of nearly 98 md. Three pore volumes of kerosene had to be circulated in the core to restore its original state of permeability and saturation. 2.2.5. Reference tests Two reference tests were conducted for comparison purposes and these include oil displacement by gas drive and oil displacement by water drive. 2.2.6. Results and discussion This part of the study consists of two sets of experiments and each set includes of three runs. Each run in the rst set involves oil

porous medium. The core was coated with a thin layer of two premixed epoxy resins and then centered in a 27 in. long 2.75 in. inside diameter steel pipe threaded on both ends. Two heavy steel bull plugs with in. hole in the center of each were screwed on both ends of the steel pipe and the whole assembly was then vertically positioned with the lower end plugged. A melted woods metal was then poured through the in. hole of the upper bull plug to ll in the annulus space between the inner walls of the steel pipe and the coated core sample. The core holder assembly was left in that position overnight so that the melted metal would have enough time to solidify. Finally, a in. diameter hole was drilled in the center of each bull plug to provide the necessary connection between the isolated core sample and the rest of the ow system. 2.2.2. Measurements of absolute permeability, porosity, irreducible water saturation and effective permeability to oil The core assembly was weighted when the core sample was empty. The absolute permeability using nitrogen was measured at different ow rates while monitoring the pressure gradient across the core for each rate. The data were then plotted as recommended by Klinkenberg (1957). The extrapolated permeability (liquid equivalent) was found equal to 144 md. To determine the porosity, vacuum was pulled at the downstream end of the core with the upstream end connected to the liquid pump. After 5 h of vacuuming, distilled water (sp. gr. of 1 and viscosity of

Fig. 7. Yield stress of oil foam.

106 Table 3 Summary of foam tests results. Type of test and foam

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p (psi) Foam Oil recovery % quality (%) of OOIP 70 80 90 70 80 90 56.5 (40.5)a 51.0 49.0 52.0 49.0 47.5 61.5 66.5 70.0 52.5 60.0 66.0 85.5 74.0 (40.5) (42.0) (42.5) (40.5) (42.0) (42.5)

A. Externally-generated foam A.1) Horizontal conguration continuous 15 foam injection. 15 15 A.2) Horizontal conguration slug foam 15 injection followed by gas injection. 15 15 B. Internally-generated foam B.1) Horizontal conguration slug size 15 of 40 cm3. 5 2.5 B.2) Horizontal conguration slug size 15 3 of 20 cm . 5 2.5 B.3) Vertical conguration slug size 5 of 40 cm3. 5 B.4) Vertical conguration slug size of 20 cm3.

a Numbers within brackets represent gas-drive oil recoveries at the indicated pressure differential.

displacement by continuous foam injection for a specic foam quality. Each run in the second set involves oil displacement by injection of a slug of foam of a certain quality until gas breakthrough followed by dry gas injection. A summary of the results of the two sets of experiments and their corresponding reference tests are presented in Table 3. When foam was continuously injected throughout the experiment, foam quality was the only variable. Tests for foam qualities of 70, 80, and 90% conducted under 15 psi pressure differentials have resulted in oil recoveries of 56.5, 51, and 49% of the initial oil in place, and that 1.225, 1.127, and 1.1078 pore volumes of foam had to be injected to achieve these oil recoveries, respectively. Therefore, ultimate oil recoveries seem to be higher with lower foam qualities or foams with lower viscosities. This observation is consistent with Minssieux (1972) conclusions. The results of this set of experiments also show that for the three foam qualities there has been an incremental increase in oil recovery of 8.0, 5.25, and 4.25% over that of the corresponding gas drive test, respectively (see Fig. 8). When foam was injected as a slug, foam quality was once again the only variable. Slug sizes were determined by observing gas breakthrough and for foam qualities of 70, 80, and 90% the slug sizes were 141, 115, and 83 cm 3, respectively. The corresponding oil recoveries were 52, 49, and 47.5% of the initial oil in place. Higher foam qualities

have resulted in earlier gas breakthrough, smaller slug size, and lower oil recovery, consistent with Minssieux (1972) observations with foamed water. The results of this set of experiments also show that for the three foam qualities there has been an incremental increase in oil recovery of 5.75, 4.25, and 3.5% over that of the corresponding gas drive test, respectively. A comparison between the performances of one pair of tests, one from each set of the above experiments, for foam quality equal to 90% is shown in Fig. 9. In an attempt to explain the existence and ow mechanism of oil foam inside the porous medium, a conceptual model of capillary tubes was implemented to predict the experimental results of foam tests. This theoretical model is based upon the assumption that porous media may be represented by a bundle of various radii, straight capillary tubes connected only at the ends. The velocity and distance travelled by the uids in each one of these capillary tubes are calculated with Poiseuille's law (1962) for laminar ow and the results in terms of uid volumes vs. time are then compared with the experimental data. The radii of the theoretical capillary tubes were determined by the miscible displacement test procedure proposed by Klinkenberg (1957) and the results are illustrated in Fig. 10. Klinkenberg showed that the pore size distribution of porous media is a function of the technique used in running the test and that a wider distribution would be obtained when the capillary pressure technique is applied. However, the results of the miscible displacement test were implemented in this study because of the size of the core sample. The derivation of foam velocity equation in the process of oil displacement by oil foam is presented in Appendix A. A similar approach was applied in the development of the oil velocity equation in the immiscible displacement process of water by oil, and the gas velocity equation in the immiscible displacement process of oil by gas. In the process of oil displacement by water (reference test), a reasonable match between the experimental data and the results of the conceptual model is obtained as shown in Fig. 11. The breakthrough time is matched by adjusting the value of cos in the capillary term, which is positive in this case, and is found equal to 20. This small value of contact angle is indicative of the strong wettability of the core sample to water. Referring to Fig. 11, the capillary tubes model predicted higher oil recoveries than the experimental results after water breakthrough and would eventually produce all the oil in place. The discrepancy may have been partially the result of application of the miscible displacement technique in deducing the pore size distribution. The capillary tube ow model, however, have shown fairly good predictions

Fig. 8. Performance of oil displacement by continuous injection of externally-generated oil foam; (p = 15 psi).

Fig. 9. Performance of oil displacement by continuous injection of externally-generated oil foam and by continuous injection of externally-generated oil foam followed by gas injection; p = 15 psi and = 90%.

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Fig. 10. Analysis of pore size distribution. Fig. 12. Calculated average gas saturation curves; p = 15 psi.

of oil recoveries in the continuous foam injection process. A sample of these results for foam quality of 70% is illustrated in Fig. 12. Failure to match the initial gas breakthrough time may be partially attributed to the fact that the capillary tubes model implicitly assumed that foam did not degenerate while propagating inside the core sample. Thus, it may be postulated that foam was breaking and regenerating inside the core. Nicklin and Koch (1968) suggested that in gasliquid systems, the liquid leaves a lm behind as it is being displaced by the gas and that at low interfacial shear stress the lm thickness can have a wide range of values. However, their mathematical expression of lm thickness did not agree with his observed data. In their study and assuming constant liquid lm thickness, the oil recoveries by gas drive predicted by the conceptual model did not match the experimental results. However, when the liquid lm thickness is set as some function of capillary tube radius a fairly good match is obtained. In this study an empirical expression is developed that correlates liquid lm with capillary tube radius and as follows. ft 1:904E 16e
2:144E05 r

The reduction in lm thickness in the presence of foams may explain the improvement in oil recovery. In fact, foam tests have shown a longer recovery life after gas breakthrough which may be indicative that foam did reduce the oil lms left behind the gas front and therefore increased oil recovery. The ow of foam in the system might have been a series of slugs, gasoil-foam, not known but postulated. No attempt has been made to simulate this type of ow with the capillary tubes model. An excellent treatment of liquid lm creation and mobilization can be found elsewhere (Rossen, 1996). 2.3. Oil displacement by internally generated oil foam In this part of the study a series of six of tests were conducted with the core sample in a horizontal position. These tests involved the injection of a certain volume of kerosene-surfactant solution (slug) in the core sample followed by gas injection. Being porous and permeable, the core sample thus acts as a foam-generating unit wherein foam is generated inside the core. Two sets of experiments (three runs each) representing two slug sizes of 20 cm3 and 40 cm3 were conducted under pressure differentials of 15, 5, and 2.5 psi. For comparison purposes, two additional runs were performed for the same slug sizes at a pressure differential of 5 psi with the core in a vertical position. 2.3.1. Results and discussion A summary of the results of this part is also illustrated in Table 3 and a brief discussion of these results follows. 1. Horizontal core conguration For the 20 cm3 slug size the observed oil recoveries were 52.5, 60, and 66% of the initial oil in place at pressure differentials of 15, 5, and 2.5 psi, respectively. The corresponding volumes of gas injection were 1.2858, 1.1903, and 1.1653 hydrocarbon pore volumes, respectively. For the 40 cm3 slug size the observed oil recoveries were 61.5, 66.5, and 70% of initial oil in place at the above pressure drops and their corresponding injected gas volumes were 1.1804, 1.140, and 1.1111 hydrocarbon pore volumes, respectively. In both sets of experiments, a signicant increase of oil recovery was observed over the gas drive test under similar pressure drop conditions. For the above pressure differential levels, the 20 cm3 slug internally-generated foam tests have shown incremental increase of oil recovery of 6, 9, and 11.75%, respectively. The 40 cm3 slug internally-generated foam tests have shown incremental increase of oil recovery of 10.5, 12.25, and 13.75%, respectively.

Fig. 11. Comparison between experimental and theoretical results of oil displacement by continuous foam injection; p = 15 psi, f = 0.051 poise and = 70%.

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2. Vertical core conguration The effect of slug size on foam effectiveness in displacing oil was investigated under 5 psi pressure differential with foam owing downward. Observed oil recoveries were 74 and 85.5% of the initial hydrocarbon pore volume for the 20 cm3 slug and 40 cm3 slug, respectively. These oil recoveries represent 14 and 19% increase over the horizontal tests under similar pressure differentials. Also, with the vertical core conguration, gas breakthrough time is 50 min longer than that for the horizontal core conguration coupled with a signicant decrease in observed produced gas volumes. 2.3.2. Horizontal core conguration: internal vs. external foam generation At 15 psi pressure differentials, tests of externally-generated continuous foam injection at 70% quality have shown similar performance to tests of internally-generated foam with slug size of 40 cm3 (20% of the hydrocarbon pore volume). The liquid content of this slug would be enough to completely saturate the core pore volume with 80% quality foam. Likewise, tests of externally-generated continuous foam injection at 80% quality have shown similar performance to tests of internallygenerated foam with slug size of 20 cm3 (10% of the hydrocarbon pore volume). The liquid content of this slug would be enough to completely saturate the core pore volume with 90% quality foam. Due to this similarity in the results, no attempt was made to model the internally-generated foam tests. However, it must be resolved whether the foam was generated within the core or only at the producing face. The existence of foam within the core during the displacement test may be indicated by relative permeability calculations. In this study the Welge's method (1952) of calculating relative permeability ratio for gas displacing oil is modied for foam displacing oil. According to Welge (1952) and neglecting capillarity, the fractional ow of gas at the producing face may be expressed as,     h  i fg p qg = qg qo 1= 1 ko g =kg o Solving for the ratio kg/ko, kg =ko 1= nh  ih io 1=fg 1 o =g 3 2

Therefore,   1 Sg So Sf 1
p

  where: f g p is apparent fractional ow of gas at the producing end,   dimensionless, Sg p is apparent gas saturation at the producing end, fraction, qg, qo, qf are free gas ow rate, in-place oil ow rate, and foam ow rate at the producing end calculated at downstream pressure, respectively, cm3/s, Sg, So, Sf are free gas saturation, in-place oil saturation and foam saturation at the producing end, respectively, fraction, and oil and gas regardless of their source, however, were being monitored with time at the separator. Hence, Eq. (2) is implicitly set equal to Eq. (6) and the fractional ow of gas at the producing end was thus calculated. Data including cumulative oil produced (Qo), cumulative gas produced (Q g), and cumulative gas injected percent of hydrocarbon pore volume (Gi)HPV are employed to calculate average gas saturation at the producing end (Sg)AV, fractional  ow  of oil, kg/ko and apparent gas saturation at the producing end Sg . The results of these calculations for gas-drive test, 20 cm3-slug size internallygenerated foam test and 40 cm3-slug size internally-generated foam test, all under  5 psi  pressure differential, are plotted as (Sg) AV vs. (Gi)HPV and kg/ko vs. Sg p as illustrated in Fig. 13 and Fig. 14, respectively. It can be observed that for a given kg/ko average gas saturation at the producing end (Sg)AV is greater for greater slug size. Also, for a given (Sg)AV a higher kg/ko ratio corresponds to the smaller slug size. This dependence of internal ow characteristics on liquid slug volume indicates that foam was generating within the core sample. Similar observations are found for the above tests at pressure differentials of 2.5 psi and 15 psi. Mathematically, it can be shown that most of the free gas was actually owing as foam by considering the following steps: 1. From gas-drive test, plot fg vs. Sg, both at the producing end. Determine (Sg)AV at different locations on the fg vs. Sg plot by extrapolating the slopes at these locations to fg = 1.0. Report the values of fg and their corresponding values of (Sg)AV. 2. Assume total production rate under owing conditions (qt) to be constant and calculate ko for each value of (Sg)AV determined in step 1 by solving the following equation. h   qt 1 fg SGAV Ako =o p=L 9
p

If all the gas is owing as foam then the above relationships may be written as,   h  i ff p 1= 1 ko f =kf o  i nh o 1=ff 1 o = f kf =ko 1= where: ( fg)p is fractional ow of gas at the producing end, dimensionless, ( ff)p is fractional ow of foam at the producing end, dimensionless, kg, ko, kf are effective permeabilities to gas, oil, and foam, respectively, Darcy, g, o, f are viscosities of gas, oil, and foam, respectively, cp. If some of the gas is owing as foam, then (fg)p may take the following expression,    n  h io f g p qg qf = qg qf qo qf 1 6 4

where is foam quality, fraction. The apparent gas saturation at the producing end may be expressed as,   Sg Sg Sf
p

Fig. 13. Gas/oil permeability ratio; p = 5 psi.

H.H. Al-Attar / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 79 (2011) 101112

109

a) Select test of p and slug size. conditions b) For any Sg p , determine the corresponding qg and qo . Guess on Sg Calculate Sf using Eq. (7), knowing foam quality () Calculate So using Eq. (8) Determine kg at Sg and ko at So from the plot constructed in step 3 above. Assuming that foam has the same ow characteristics as oil, kf at Sf can be estimated from the ko vs. So curve. Substitute values of kg, ko, kf, qg , qo , , g, o and f in Eq. (12). If both sides are equal then the correct value of Sf has been determined, otherwise a new guess on Sg has to be made and the calculations are repeated.

Fig. 14. Fractional ow of gas (gas drive test at p = 5 psi).

where: qt ( fg)SGAV A ko o p L is total production rate under owing conditions, cm 3/s, is fractional ow of gas at (Sg)AV, dimensionless, is cross sectional area of the core sample, cm 2, is effective permeability to oil, Darcy, is oil viscosity, cp, is pressure drop across the core sample, atm., is core length, cm.

3. Plot ko vs. (Sg)AV on the same graph paper of the kg/ko- Sg p plot (such as Fig. 14) and for each value of ko draw a horizontal line and observe its intersection with the ko curve. From the intersection point proceed vertically upward or downward as may deem neces sary to intersect with the kg/ko Sg p curve. The new intersection point should yield the value of kg/ko and its corresponding value of (Sg)AV, and hence, the effective permeability to gas at this (Sg)AV can be determined. Repeat this step for other values of ko and arrange the results in a table form that contains ko/kabs, kg/kabs and (Sg)AV, where kabs is the absolute permeability of the core sample. 4. Plot ko/kabs and kg/kabs vs. (Sg)AV. 5. The measured gas production rate and oil production rate at the outlet face of the core may be expressed in terms of uids permeabilities as follows. h  i qg kg =g kf =f n h io qo ko =o kf 1=f 10 11

It is found that lower values of Sg would result in a match between the values of both sides of Eq. (12) indicating that most of the injected gas was owing as foam inside the core sample. A complete numerical example on the application of the proposed iterative scheme calculations is presented in Appendix B. The observed performance of oil displacement by internallygenerated oil foam has shown decreased oil recoveries with increased pressure differentials. It seems that the resident time of gas in porous media is a crucial factor in generating foams. Assuming that foam has a normal distribution of bubble sizes, then at a low pressure differential foam moves rst into the largest pore channels until a large bubble comes along and blocks the pore opening to the point where foam is injected into the next smaller size pore channel. Depending on the foam stability, the large bubble has a limited lifetime and the blocking effect should end to allow gas and foam to ow once again in the large pore channel until another large bubble comes along. This sequence of entering large and small pore channels will continue until the entire permeable section accepts foam. At higher pressure differentials, however, chances are such that large bubbles may deform and/or shear and ow of gas and foam in the large pore channels may continue without entering the small pore channels, resulting in lower oil recoveries. Earlier gas breakthrough were observed to associate with higher pressure differentials which supports the aforementioned hypothesis and indicates that gas and/or foam moved faster within the large pore channels. Similar interpretations regarding the mechanism of foam ow in porous media were reported by others (Alvarez et al., 2001; Aronson et al., 1994; Katib et al., 1988; Mamun et al., 2002). 3. Conclusions Based on the experimental results of this study it may be concluded that: 1. Oil foams behave as non-Newtonian uids and their behavior closely t the Bingham-plastic model. These foams, however, have shown a much lower yield point than water foams of similar foam quality range. 2. The viscosity of oil foams is found to increase as the foam quality is increased. 3. Tests of continuous injection of externally-generated foams have shown 4.5, 2.0 and 1.5% higher oil recoveries than tests of slug foam injection followed by gas drive for foam qualities of 70, 80 and 90% qualities, respectively. These differences might be partially the result of continuous foam injection. 4. Based on the capillary tubes conceptual model, the externallygenerated oil foam appears to ow partially as foam inside the core sample. 5. For multiphase ow systems involving wetting and non-wetting phases, the capillary tubes model seems to be a realistic or at least an adequate measure of duplicating laboratory observations. 6. The capillary tubes model also appears to be a reasonable approach to determine rock wettability.

Therefore,    nh   io kg =ko So g =o 12 qg kf =f = qo kf 1=f Sg where: qg and qo are slopes of production performance curves at any   Sg ; cm 3/s, and kf is effective permeability to foam, Darcy.
p

The foam saturation that makes both sides of Eq. (12) equal may be determined by the following proposed trial and error procedure.

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H.H. Al-Attar / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 79 (2011) 101112

7. The reduction in liquid lm thickness may explain the improvement in oil recovery in the presence of foams. 8. Internally-generated oil foams with slug sizes of 20% and 10% of the hydrocarbon pore volume have shown similar ow characteristics and mechanism to externally-generated oil foams with foam qualities of 80 and 90%, respectively. 9. Utilizing gravity in tests performed with vertical core conguration is found to increase the effectiveness of oil foam in the displacement of oil in porous media and to further improve the recovery of oil. Hence, a foam blanket between the oil zone and the gas zone could provide a successful oil recovery technique. Nomenclature A cross sectional area of the core sample, cm 2, ( fg)p fractional ow of gas at the producing end, fraction, ( ff)p fractional ow of foam at the producing end, fraction,   fg apparent fractional ow of gas at the producing end, fraction, ( fg)SGAV ft (Gi)HPV kabs kf, kg, ko L Lf Lo pi pint po qf, qg, qo qt Qg Qo qg qo R Sf, Sg, So ( g)AV S Sg p ; Swir vf vo
p

r pi pint f Lf

radius of capillary tube, cm, inlet pressure, dunes/cm2, pressure at the foamoil interface, dynes/cm 2, effective foam viscosity, poise, length of foam, cm. Similarly, oil velocity can be expressed as

vo r pint po =8 o Lo where: vo po o Lo oil velocity, cm/s, outlet pressure, dynes/cm 2, oil viscosity, poise, oil length, cm. Rearranging Eq. (A-1) and solving for pint yields   2 pint pi vf 8 f Lf =r Substituting in Eq. (A-2) vo r
2

A 2

fractional ow of gas at (Sg)AV, fraction, liquid lm thickness, cm, cumulative gas injected percent of hydrocarbon pore volume, fraction, absolute permeability of core, Darcy, effective permeabilities to foam, gas, and oil, respectively, Darcy, core length, cm, foam length, cm, oil length, cm, inlet pressure, dunes/cm2, pressure at the foamoil interface, dynes/cm 2, outlet pressure, dynes/cm 2, ow rates of foam, free gas, and in-place oil at the producing end calculated at downstream pressure, respectively, cm 3/s, total production rate under owing conditions, cm 3/s, cumulative gas produced, cm 3, cumulative oil produced, cm 3, slope of gas production performance curve at any Sg p ;cm3/s, slope of oil production performance curve at any Sg p ;cm3/s, capillary tube radius, cm, foam saturation, free gas saturation, and in-place oil saturation at the producing end, respectively, fraction, average gas saturation at the producing end, fraction, apparent gas saturation at the producing end, fraction, irreducible water saturation, fraction, foam velocity, cm/s, oil velocity, cm/s.

nh

 i  2 po g=8 o Lo pi vf 8 f Lf =r

Simplifying and solving for vf, yields vf r pi po 8 o Lo vo =8f Lf But vf = vo and Lo = Lc Lf, where Lc is the length of capillary tube, cm, and therefore h  i 2 vf r pi po = 8 f Lf 8o Lc Lf A 3
2

Appendix B. Estimating foam saturation (Sf) using the proposed iterative scheme procedure of calculations Given information: Pressure differential across core sample = 5 psi Surfactantsolution slug size = 20 cm 3 Foam quality = 80% Foam viscosity = 6.1 cp Oil viscosity = 1.458 cp Gas viscosity = 0.0178 cp Apparent gas saturation at the producing end, from Fig. 12.

Greek letters p pressure drop across the core sample, atm, foam quality, fraction or percent, f, g, o, viscosities of foam, gas, and oil, respectively, cp.

Sg p ; is deduced

Appendix A. Derivation of foam velocity equation when displacing oil by oil foam According to Poiseuille's Law (1962) for laminar ow of a uid in capillary tubes, foam velocity can be expressed as vf r pi pint =8 f Lf where: vf foam velocity, cm/s,
2

A 1

q g and q o values which correspond to Sg p ; are deduced from Fig. 13. The fractional ow of gas drive curve is presented in illustrated in Fig. 14 and the calculated ko at different average gas saturations are listed in Table B1. The relative permeability curves for gas and oil are plotted as illustrat ed in Fig. B2. Let Sg p =0.50, therefore, qg =0.0114 cm3/s and qo = 3 0.0015 cm /s. Assume Sg =0.21 and apply Eq. 7 to calculate foam saturation as fol lows. Sf = Sg p = Sg =0.500.21 =0.29; and thus Sf =0.29/0.8 =0.36. The oil saturation is then calculated by rearranging Eq. 8, So = 1 Sg p Sf (1 ) = 1 0.3 0.5 0.36 (1 0.8) = 0.428. Next, Fig. B2 is used to nd the effective permeability to oil, gas and foam and the results are:

H.H. Al-Attar / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 79 (2011) 101112 Table B-1 Results of determination of ko/kabs ratio. (Sg)AV 0.32 0.39 0.45 (fg)SGAV 0.840 0.940 0.983 ko (md) ko/kabs

111

10.464 0.0727 3.924 0.0273 1.112 0.0072 The ko/kabs values are then plotted on the kg/kovs. S g p graph as shown in Fig. B1. The corresponding kg/ko values at (Sg)AV are illustrated in Table B-2.

Table B-2 Results of determination of kg/kabs ratio. (Sg)AV 0.32 0.39 0.45 ko (md) 10.464 3.924 1.112 kg/ko 0.04 0.70 41.00 kg (md) 0.4186 2.7468 44.500 (kg/kabs) 100 0.300 1.908 30.902 (ko/kabs) 100 7.267 2.725 0.772

ko at So = 0.144E03 Darcy, kg at Sg = 0.019E03 Darcy and kf at Sf = 0.043E03 Darcy. Substituting these values into Eq. (12), it is found that the L.H.S. = 0.132 and the R.H.S. = 0.09966. Hence, another guess on Sg must be made. Since the L.H.S. is greater than the R.H.S. then a lower value of Sg should be assumed. Setting Sg = 0.17 results in Sf = 0.413, So = 0.418 and from Fig. B2 the values of ko, kg and kf are deduced to be 0.135E03 Darcy, 0.014E03 Darcy and 0.144E03 Darcy, respectively. Substituting these results in Eq. (12) the LH.S. = 0.1037 and the R.H.S. = 0.09976 which are much closer than before and the correct value of Sg would be a little less than 17%. Using straight line convergence approach the correct value of Sg is found equal to 0.167. Therefore, for foam quality of 80% the foam saturation was found to be 0.413 and 80% of that was measured as free gas.
Fig. B2. Relative permeability curves; gas drive test at p = 5 psi.

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Fig. B1. Permeability ratios vs. apparent gas saturation at producing end curves; gas drive test; p = 5 psi.

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