Experimental Study On CO₂Foam Flow Characteristics In A Pourous Media

CO2foam technology has been widely used as a mobility control agent for enhanced oil recovery and carbon dioxide geological storage. In the thesis work, acrylic pressure vessel is designed and processed, porous media is prepared by packing quartz sands in the vessel and the experimental platform is built for studying foam seepage flow in porous media. Foam flow behavior is visualized; foam flow characteristics in porous media and various influential factors are experimentally investigated. In order to analyze the difference between CO2and N2foam flow resistance in porous media, experimental setup is constructed for studying foam statics characteristics by employing air flow method.It is clearly observed that foam propagates in porous media in a piston-like way, while the water displacement shows obvious gravity effect. Correspondingly, flow resistance for foam flow is much higher than single phase water flow in porous media. End capillary effect can be monitored after foam flow breaks through the sandpack, and N2foam gives higher pressure drop along the sandcore compared to CO2foam. Foam generated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant shows higher drag in porous media than that of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), and flow resistance increases at higher surfactant concentrations and backpressure. Properties of porous media also show obvious effect to foam flow characteristics, with higher pressure loss recoreded under higher number of capillaries per unit volume.It is found from foam static studies that the common Foam Composite Index (FCI)is not suitable for predicting foam dynamic behaviors, therefore a more proper index of FIDBPM (Foam Index of for predicting foam Dynamic Behavior in Porous Media) is suggested for anticipating the transient foam behavior in porous media.