Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2017
24th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Effect of wettability in immiscible displacement of oil on microfluidic porous media
Submission Author:
Jorge Antonio Avendaño Benavides , RJ , Brazil
Co-Authors:
Nicolle Lima, Antonio Quevedo, Marcio CARVALHO, Jorge Antonio Avendaño Benavides
Presenter: Jorge Antonio Avendaño Benavides
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2017.COB17-1027
Abstract
We present an original analysis on immiscible displacement of oil by water in microfluidic porous media of different wettability. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic identical micromodels saturated with a mineral oil were flooded with colored water at different flow rates until no more oil is produced. The complete extension of the micromodel after steady state was photographed for each experiment using an inverted microscope to precisely determinate residual oil saturation and ganglia size distribution. For the entire range of injection rates (Capillary number between 3.5x10-7 and 5x10-5) the hydrophobic porous medium exhibits a lower residual oil saturation, thus a better oil displacement, than its hydrophilic counterpart. We consider that the greater residual oil saturation in the hydrophilic porous media is a consequence of preferential patches of water (capillary fingering) that creates isolate islands of oil that cannot be reached. A higher quantity of very small oil ganglia is observed in the hydrophilic porous medium when compared to the hydrophobic but doesn’t seem to positively affect the displacement because those very small ganglia will be trapped in the micromodel by capillary forces. On the other hand, a better displacement of oil in the hydrophobic porous media could be explained by the capillary driven snap-off that leads to poorly connected water paths that eventually modifies water relative permeability and improves the oil displacement efficiency
Keywords
Wettability, Microfluidic, residual oil saturation, snap-off, Piston-like flow, Immiscible flow, capillary fingering
