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Experimental Analysis of Immiscible Displacements of Heavy Oil in Heterogeneous Porous Media under Ultrasonic Effect

Kanani, Mojtaba | 2014

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 46230 (19)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Ghotbi, Siroos; Ghazanfari, Mohammad Hossein
  7. Abstract:
  8. In the recent years, there has been an increasing attention toward usage of ultrasonic for enhanced oil recovery practices. But, thorough knowledge of active mechanisms and spreading and characterization of developed fingers during this practice is not available. From the other hand, due to limited amount of light oil fields, more attentions towards recovery from heavy oils is the need of the hour. Documents show that the big issues during the enhanced oil recovery from heavy crudes are high density of reservoir oil as well as poor development of fingers during injection due to high mobility ratios. In this study, results of ultrasound effect on the heavy oil recovery and its effect on the behavior of developed fingers will be analyzed. In addition to displacement analysisin two dimensions (macroscopic behavior) in the presence of ultrasonic waves, microscopic behavior of the pore level analysis will be investigated. To this end, micromodels containing shale streaks as well as those developed based on real thin sections are used and behavior of injection fluid’s front, residue oil, finger development and effective mechanisms during the flood will be studied. To this end, micromodels containing shale streaks as well as those developed based on real thin sections are used and behavior of injection fluid’s front, residue oil, finger development and effective mechanisms during the flood will be studied. Moreover, fractal behavior of the developed front at each time will be investigated. Determined fractal dimension are used to predict the breakthrough time. Obtained results from experimental analysis show that application of ultrasonic waves could enhance the amount of produced oil. These waves by an action of globalizing the injected fluid could enhance the better spreading the developed fingers. Moreover, ultrasound by reducing the interfacial tension of the injected fluid and oil cause a significant decrease of the residue oil and subsequently increases the microscopic efficiency. Microscopic visualizations in layered porous models show that globalizing is more occurred in layer with lower permeability. Analyzing minimum and maximum main fingers reveals that presence of ultrasonic waves has not significant effect on the properties of main finger, but it affects the development behavior of mini-fingers by the phenomena of “globalization”. Application of ultrasonic waves in heavy oil reservoir causes a better spreading of the injected fluid. In a water flooding scenario in a synthetic medium which was developed based on a real thin section, the fractal dimension was 1.58 in the presence and absence of ultrasonic waves. Results of this study could help better understanding the potential features of ultrasonic waves in EOR practices. Application of ultrasonic waves in a shale-containing medium resulted in an increasing in the amount of produced oil. In shale-containing media, reflection of the radiation increases the radiation power for regions between the shale streaks and the injection port which in turn spreads and moves the stationary fingers
  9. Keywords:
  10. Ultrasonic Waves ; Heterogeneous Model ; Enhanced Oil Recovery ; Fractal Dimension ; Displacement Mechanism

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