TY - JOUR
T1 - Use of X-ray computed microtomography to understand why gels reduce relative permeability to water more than that to oil
AU - Seright, R. S.
AU - Liang, J.
AU - Lindquist, W. Brent
AU - Dunsmuir, John H.
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support for this work is gratefully acknowledged from the National Petroleum Technology Office of the United States Department of Energy, BP, Chevron, China National Petroleum, Chinese Petroleum, Marathon, Shell, and Texaco. The efforts of John Hagstrom were appreciated during the corefloods and imaging experiments. We also thank Dr. Jill S. Buckley (New Mexico PRRC) for helpful discussions and suggestions. This research was carried out (in part) at the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Division of Materials Sciences and Division of Chemical Sciences. The Geosciences Program of the U.S. Department of Energy (grant DE-FG02-92ER14261) funded development of the 3DMA code.
PY - 2003/9
Y1 - 2003/9
N2 - X-ray computed microtomography (XMT) was used to investigate why gels reduce relative permeability to water more than that to oil in strongly water-wet Berea sandstone. XMT allows saturation differences to be monitored for individual pores during various stages of oil, water, and gelant flooding. The method also characterizes distributions of pore size, aspect ratio, and coordination number for the porous media. We studied a Cr(III) acetate-HPAM gel that reduced permeability to water (at Sor) by a factor 80-90 times more than that to oil (at S wr). In Berea, the gel caused disproportionate permeability reduction by trapping substantial volumes of oil that remained immobile during water flooding (i.e., 43.5% Sor before gel placement versus 78.7% Sor after gel placement). With this high trapped oil saturation, water was forced to flow through narrow films, through the smallest pores, and through the gel itself. In contrast, during oil flooding, oil pathways remained relatively free from constriction by the gel.
AB - X-ray computed microtomography (XMT) was used to investigate why gels reduce relative permeability to water more than that to oil in strongly water-wet Berea sandstone. XMT allows saturation differences to be monitored for individual pores during various stages of oil, water, and gelant flooding. The method also characterizes distributions of pore size, aspect ratio, and coordination number for the porous media. We studied a Cr(III) acetate-HPAM gel that reduced permeability to water (at Sor) by a factor 80-90 times more than that to oil (at S wr). In Berea, the gel caused disproportionate permeability reduction by trapping substantial volumes of oil that remained immobile during water flooding (i.e., 43.5% Sor before gel placement versus 78.7% Sor after gel placement). With this high trapped oil saturation, water was forced to flow through narrow films, through the smallest pores, and through the gel itself. In contrast, during oil flooding, oil pathways remained relatively free from constriction by the gel.
KW - Disproportionate permeability reduction
KW - X-ray computed microtomography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0042842372&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0920-4105(03)00064-0
DO - 10.1016/S0920-4105(03)00064-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0042842372
VL - 39
SP - 217
EP - 230
JO - Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
JF - Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
SN - 0920-4105
IS - 3-4
ER -