Effect of surfactant concentration on foam: From coreflood experiments to implicit-texture foam-model parameters

We present a comparative study of foam coreflood experiments with various surfactant concentrations. Plots of apparent viscosity vs. injected gas fraction were obtained for surfactant concentrations at the critical micelle concentration and above. Bulk foam stability was measured for all concentrations and compared with the coreflood results. There were different responses to surfactant concentration in bulk and in corefloods.The coreflood results were matched with an implicit-texture foam model, and the dependency of the model parameters on the surfactant concentration is discussed. Fitting the data requires relating the surfactant concentration to the dry-out function or the limiting capillary pressure.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide