Sharif Digital Repository

Alkaline flooding is one of the newest chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. Alkaline generates in situ surfactants when in reacts with acid content of the oil. This economic surfactant generated in oil-water interface, reduces interfacial tension (IFT) significantly that leads to increase in oil recovery by extracting oil from tiny pores. In this study, three alkaline i.e. Na2CO3, NaOH and KOH in various concentrations were flooded in a glassy micromodel to detect displacement mechanisms and compare oil recovery. According to the results, increase in alkaline concentration leads to increase in recovery. However, in this case, alkaline type does not play a significant role. In... 

Application of nano or biomaterials for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has been recently much attended by petroleum engineering researchers. However, how would be the displacement mechanisms and how would change the recovery efficiency while nano and biomaterials are used simultaneously is still an open question. To this end, a series of injection tests performed on micromodel containing shale strikes. Three types of biomaterials including biosurfactant, bioemulsifier, and biopolymer beside two types of nanoparticles including SiO2 and TiO2 at different concentrations were used as injection fluids. The microscopic as well as macroscopic efficiency of displacements were observed from analysis of... 

Among various chemical methods, alkaline flooding has a great potential for enhancing heavy oil recovery, especially for reservoirs which contain acidic crude oil. However, fundamental understanding about microscopic displacement mechanisms and macroscopic behavior during alkaline floods at different wettabilities is not well understood, especially in five-spot shaly models. In this work several alkaline floods are performed on a glass micromodel containing randomly distributed shale streaks at different wettability conditions. Various mechanisms responsible for enhancing heavy oil recovery during alkaline flooding are investigated at different wettability conditions. These mechanisms... 

An algorithm has been developed to investigate the effect of asphaltene precipitation on calculation of minimum miscibility pressure (MMP), which is one of the key design parameters of any gas injection projects. In fact, this algorithm is the extension of procedure suggested by Jaubert et al. for prediction of MMP whatever the displacement mechanism. The vapor-liquid equilibrium calculation and then liquid-liquid equilibrium calculation are required to be taken account to estimate the amount of asphaltene precipitation. The association equation of state (AEOS) has been applied to determine the phase behavior of asphaltene. The algorithm has been used for the MMP prediction of Weyburn... 

This paper concerns on experimental investigation of biopolymer/polymer flooding in fractured five-spot systems. In this study, a series of polymer injection processes were performed on five-spot glass type micromodels saturated with heavy crude oil. Seven fractured glass type micromodels were used to illustrate the effects of polymer type/concentration on oil recovery efficiency in presence of fractures with different geometrical properties (i.e., fractures orientation, length and number of fractures). Four synthetic polymers as well as a biopolymer at different levels of concentration were tested. Also a micromodel constituted from dead-end pores with various geometrical properties was... 

In this study, the effect of different parameters on the fluid transport in a fractured micromodel has been investigated. All experiments in this study have been conducted in a glass micromodel. Since the state of wetting is important in the micromodel, the wetting experiments have been conducted to determine the state of wetting in the micromodel. The used micromodel was wet by water and non-wet regarding normal decane. The fracture network, distribution of pore size, matrix construction, and injection rate are the most important parameters affecting the process. Therefore, the influence of these parameters was studied using five different patterns (A to E). The obtained results from... 

Microscopic and macroscopic displacements of polymer flooding to heavy oil at various levels of salinity and connate water saturation have been investigated. Both oil-wet and water-wet conditions in fractured five-spot micromodel systems, initially saturated with the heavy crude oil are utilized. The primary contribution is to examine the role of salinity, wettability, connate water, and fracture geometry in the recovery efficiency of the system. The microscopic results revealed that the increase in the connate water saturation decreases the oil recovery, independent of the wettability conditions. Moreover, the increase in salinity of the injected fluids lowers the recovery efficiency due to... 

Although Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) flooding is proved to be efficient for heavy oil recovery, the displacement mechanisms/efficiency of this process should be discussed further in fractured porous media especially in typical waterflood geometrical configurations such as five-spot injection-production pattern. In this study, several ASP flooding tests were conducted in fractured glass-etched micromodels which were initially saturated with heavy oil. The ASP flooding tests were conducted at constant injection flow rates and different fracture geometrical characteristics were used. The ASP solutions constituted of five polymers, two surfactants and three alkaline types. The results... 

Although alkaline-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding has proven efficient for heavy oil recovery, the displacement mechanisms and efficiency of this process should be discussed further in fractured porous media. In this study, several ASP flooding tests were conducted in fractured glass-etched micromodels with a typical waterflood geometrical configuration, i.e. five-spot injection-production pattern. The ASP flooding tests were conducted at constant injection flow rates but different fracture geometrical characteristics. The ASP solutions consisted of five polymers, two surfactants, and three alkaline types. It was found that using synthetic polymers, especially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide... 

Characteristics of connections in steel moment-resisting frames are of utmost importance in determining the seismic performance of these structural systems. The results of several previous experimental studies have indicated that Partially Restrained (PR) connections possess excellent properties, which make them a reliable substitution for Fully Restrained (FR) connections. These properties include needing less base shear, being more economic, and, in many cases, being able to absorb more energy. In this study, the behavior of two proposed PR connections with torsional plate is studied through finite element simulations. The results of the numerical studies regarding initial stiffness and... 

Among different methods which are introduced to reduce unwanted water production, “Preformed Particle Gel” (PPG) is a recently developed type of these gels that can have important advantages such as temperature resistance and long-term stability. The aim of the present work is to synthesize a new type of PPG in which the above specifications are improved even further with the advantage of the Nano-material (here after called N-PPG) and then investigate its effectiveness via static bulk tests as well as dynamic Hele-Shaw and Micromodel tests. In static tube tests, the swelling performance of N-PPG samples was evaluated under different conditions. The examined parameters include various pH of... 

Laboratory experiments have shown that performance of waterflooding in oil reservoirs could be significantly increased by lowering the ionic strength and/or manipulation of its composition, which is generally known as low salinity waterflooding (LSWF). The involved mechanisms in additional oil production can be generally categorized in two categories, fluid/fluid and fluid/rock interactions. The distribution of the phases and the involved displacement mechanisms would be strongly affected by the inter-relations between capillary and viscous forces. Although there have been recent advances in the simulation of the LSWF at core scale and beyond and some models are included in commercial... 

Laboratory experiments have shown that performance of waterflooding in oil reservoirs could be significantly increased by lowering the ionic strength and/or manipulation of its composition, which is generally known as low salinity waterflooding (LSWF). The involved mechanisms in additional oil production can be generally categorized in two categories, fluid/fluid and fluid/rock interactions. The distribution of the phases and the involved displacement mechanisms would be strongly affected by the inter-relations between capillary and viscous forces. Although there have been recent advances in the simulation of the LSWF at core scale and beyond and some models are included in commercial... 

Spontaneous imbibition of water from fracture into the matrix is considered as one of the most important recovery mechanisms in the fractured porous media. However, water cannot spontaneously imbibe into the oil-wet rocks and as a result oil won't be produced, unless the capillary pressure barrier between fracture conduits and matrix is overcome. Wettability alteration is known as the main affecting mechanism for low salinity water flooding (LSWF), however, its effectiveness in fractured porous media has been less investigated, especially in the case of possible pore scale displacement mechanisms. In this study, the effectiveness of LSWF (diluted seawater) on oil recovery is compared to the...