Browsing by Author "Guerrero Zabala, Francy Viviana"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Experimental Study of Heavy Oil Recovery Mechanisms in a 2D System
    (2019-01-17) Guerrero Zabala, Francy Viviana; Kantzas, Apostolos K.; Bryan, Jonathan Luke; Aguilera, Roberto F.; Bryant, Steven L.
    The aim of this study was to evaluate the macro-displacement mechanisms associated with heavy oil recovery by water and chemical flooding in a 2D Model. To evaluate the effect of sweep efficiency improvements with and without local pore level trapping of fluids, a 2D Hele-Shaw cell and a 2D Glass-bead model were used to visualize the dominant mechanisms of water, surfactant, polymer, and SP to enhance heavy oil recovery. Mineral oil displacements were conducted as a base line and compared to real crude oil displacements. Pressure drop was monitored and post-breakthrough oil recovery during the water flood and chemical flood was assessed through material balance and image sequences which showed the distribution of the fluids in the model and cell. The results demonstrated that displacements performance is highly-correlated to the viscosity or mobility ratio between the fluids. The synergy between polymer and surfactant lead to a slightly better sweep efficiency in the 2D system compared to surfactant or polymer alone, however the displacement of heavy oil is greatly controlled by polymer effects. The findings from these non-linear systems provided insights into fluid flow behavior in diverging flow paths, as opposed to linear core floods that have limited flow pathways.