Characterization of crude oil-water interfacial film rigidity to enhance oil recovery
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsSubhash Chandrabose Ayirala, Ali Abdallah Al-Yousef
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Assessing a rigidity of an interface between a crude oil and a brine includes at least one of: assessing a compression energy for the interface between the crude oil and the brine; assessing a time at which an elastic modulus and a viscous modulus of the interface between the crude oil and the brine are equal; assessing a crumpling behavior or a crumpling ratio of a droplet of the crude oil in the brine; and assessing a coalescence time of droplets of the crude oil in the brine.
Claims21
A method of assessing a rigidity of an interface between a crude oil and a brine, the method comprising at least one of:
- assessing a compression energy for the interface between the crude oil and the brine;
- assessing a time at which an elastic modulus and a viscous modulus of the interface between the crude oil and the brine are equal;
- assessing a crumpling behavior or a crumpling ratio of a droplet of the crude oil, wherein the droplet of the crude oil is in the brine;
- and
- assessing a coalescence time of a plurality of droplets of the crude oil, wherein the plurality of droplets of the crude oil is in the brine.
A method of selecting a composition of an injection fluid for an enhanced oil recovery process, the method comprising:
- assessing a rigidity of an interface between a crude oil and a brine;
- and
- selecting the composition of the injection fluid, wherein selecting the composition of the injection fluid comprises altering a composition of the brine to increase or decrease a concentration of one or more ions in the brine to yield the injection fluid, such that a crude oil-injection fluid interfacial film rigidity is less than a crude oil-brine interfacial film rigidity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.