A Study of Transport of Micellar Fluids in Porous Media

Two- and three-phase relative permeabilities have been measured for a low interfacial tension brineoil- surfactant-alcohol mixture in a Berea sandstone core. The measurements were done at steady-state with a constant nominal capillary number of 10^-2. Residual phase saturation (capillary desaturation curve) and endpoint relative permeability have also been measured for three-phase micellar fluids as a function of capillary number in a Berea core. Continuous and slug displacements of both partitioning and non-partitioning radioactive tracers were run for each steady-state experiment. The experimental effluent tracer data from these experiments were analyzed by a capacitance model. The phase dispersivities and dispersion coefficients estimated from the capacitance analysis as a function of phase saturation and velocity are illustrated. Both excess phases (oil and brine) flowing with the microemulsion showed significant capacitance effects, but the microemulsion did not. The absence of capacitance and higher residual saturation than those of excess phases at the same capillary number indicate that the microemulsion was probably the wetting phase in these low interfacial tension flows, even more wetting than the excess brine phase. The relative permeability of each phase is a function only of its own saturation during three-phase flow. Based on this observation and the trend of experimental data, an exponential function is recommended to model three-phase relative permeability at high capillary number.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Petroleum Engineering

Grantor

University of Texas at Austin

Year dc:date.issued

1986

Author dc:creator

• Delshad, Mojdeh

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Lake, Larry W.
• Pope, Gary A.

• Relative Permeability
• Micellar Fluids
• Porous Media
• Dispersivity

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/7551

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/80535