An Experimental Investigation of Surfactant-Stabilized CO 2 Foam Flooding in Carbonate Cores in Reservoir Conditions

Madiyar Koyanbayev (), Randy Doyle Hazlett, Lei Wang and Muhammad Rehan Hashmet
Additional contact information
Madiyar Koyanbayev: School of Mining and Geosciences, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
Randy Doyle Hazlett: School of Mining and Geosciences, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
Lei Wang: College of Energy, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
Muhammad Rehan Hashmet: Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-19

Abstract: Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) injection for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has attracted great attention due to its potential to increase ultimate recovery from mature oil reservoirs. Despite the reported efficiency of CO 2 in enhancing oil recovery, the high mobility of CO 2 in porous media is one of the major issues faced during CO 2 EOR projects. Foam injection is a proven approach to overcome CO 2 mobility problems such as early gas breakthrough and low sweep efficiency. In this experimental study, we investigated the foam performance of a commercial anionic surfactant, alpha olefin sulfonate (AOS), in carbonate core samples for gas mobility control and oil recovery. Bulk foam screening tests demonstrated that varying surfactant concentrations above a threshold value had an insignificant effect on foam volume and half-life. Moreover, foam stability and capacity decreased with increasing temperature, while variations in salinity over the tested range had a negligible influence on foam properties. The pressure drop across a brine-saturated core sample increased with an increasing concentration of surfactant in the injected brine during foam flooding experiments. Co-injection of CO 2 and AOS solution at an optimum concentration and gas fractional flow enhanced oil recovery by 6–10% of the original oil in place (OOIP).

Keywords: CO 2 foam; mobility control; EOR; foam stability; alpha-olefin sulfonate (AOS) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/13/3353/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/13/3353/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:13:p:3353-:d:1431156

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().