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Influence of phase behavior on chemical flood transport phenomena

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Abstract

A one-dimensional ternary two-phase simulator has been extended to include improved physical properties. These physical properties - such as phase behavior, interfacial tension, residual saturations, relative permeabilities, phase viscosities, wettability, capillary pressure, adsorption and dispersion - are modeled as concentration dependent functions. Their functionality completely controls the chemical flood transport phenomena.

In this paper, the influence of phase behavior, interfacial tension reduction, mobility control and wettability alteration on chemical flooding are analyzed. In a subsequent paper the influence of capillary pressure, adsorption, and physical and numerical dispersion will be presented. The main application of the simulator here presented is to describe enhanced oil recovery processes. It may also be applied to describe oil spill cleaning and groundwater contamination.

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Abbreviations

A :

cross-sectional area of reservoir (cm2)

Ad:

adsorbed volume of component per unit volume of the porous medium

D :

dispersion coefficient (cm2/s)

e :

relative permeability exponent

F :

interfacial tension factor defined in Equation (11)

G 1, G 2 :

interfacial tension parameters, defined in Equations (10)

K :

absolute permeability (Darcy)

K c :

chemical partition coefficient, defined in Equation (3)

k r :

relative permeability

L :

length of system (cm)

L supcinfa :

solubilization parameter, defined in Equation (1)

L supwcinf0 :

swelling parameter, defined in Equation (2)

N VC :

capillary number, defined in Equation (4)

NX :

total number of grid blocks

P :

pressure (atm)

P c :

capillary pressure (atm)

P e :

pressure at the outlet boundary (atm)

S :

saturation

S ar :

aqueous phase residual saturation

S Or :

oleic phase residual saturation

t :

time (s)

T supjinf1 , T supjinf2 :

j-phase trapping parameters, defined in Equations (5), (6) and (7)

u :

Darcy's velocity (cm/s)

V :

volume fraction

x :

distance along porous sample (cm)

Z :

overall concentration

α 1, α 2, α 3 :

phase viscosity parameters defined in Equation (14)

λ :

A phase mobility, defined in Equations (A-4) and (A-5)

σ :

interfacial tension (dyne/cm)

σ supmininfj :

minimum interfacial tension value, below which the j-phase is thoroughly desaturated dyne/cm)

φ :

porosity

μ :

viscosity (cp)

ε :

iteration error

i :

component

c :

chemical component

D :

dimensionless

m :

grid block number

p :

petroleum component

w :

water component

s :

slug

0:

endpoint of function

a :

aqueous phase

H :

water-oil (no chemical) high interfacial tension system

IN :

injection

j :

phase

k :

iteration level

n :

time-step number

o :

oleic phase

r :

residual

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Ingeniería de Reservorios, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón de Industrias, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M. S. Bidner & P. C. Porcelli

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  1. M. S. Bidner
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  2. P. C. Porcelli
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Bidner, M.S., Porcelli, P.C. Influence of phase behavior on chemical flood transport phenomena. Transp Porous Med 24, 247–273 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00154093

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