Water film rupture in blocked oil recovery by gas injection: Experimental and modeling study

- Micromodel experiments are performed on dead-end pores to study water film rupture.
- A new mathematical model is proposed to estimate water rupture time.
- The presence of water film on the pore walls of water-wet media is modeled.
- Non-ideal mixing is considered in water rupture modeling for the first time.

Water shielding phenomenon generally occurs after waterflooding in water-wet rocks, and impedes direct contact between the oil and the injected gas in tertiary gas injection processes. In this work, a set of visualization experiments were performed on micromodel patterns including designed dead-end pores with a film of water on the surface of pore bodies, which is a more realistic representation of porous media. The experiments were conducted at different miscibility conditions, and the required time for water to be displaced from the throat by the swelling of oil was measured for first contact miscible (n-C5/CO2) and immiscible (n-C10/CO2) systems. In the next step, a model was proposed to simulate the results of the experiments, based on the work of Bijeljic et al. (2003). As the impact of non-ideal mixing in this process has not been previously discussed in the available literature, the new model was developed by taking into account the changes in the partial molar volumes of oil and gas components using the PR and the SRK equations of state, and also by considering the mass transfer from the surrounding water on the pore body into the shielded oil. The rupture times predicted by the model were compared with the measured experimental data, as well as those reported by Campbell and Orr (1985). It was found that inclusion of partial molar volumes of components improves the accuracy of the model. The results also revealed the significant role of the water film on the pore body surfaces in mass transfer rate between the phases in water-wet media. The close agreement between the results of the model proposed in this study and the experimental data shows that it can be helpful for developing more accurate multiphase compositional models.

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