Display options
Cite
Conn CA, Ma K, Hirasaki GJ, et al. Visualizing oil displacement with foam in a microfluidic device with permeability contrast. Lab Chip. 2014;14(20):3968-77doi: 10.1039/c4lc00620h.
Conn, C. A., Ma, K., Hirasaki, G. J., & Biswal, S. L. (2014). Visualizing oil displacement with foam in a microfluidic device with permeability contrast. Lab on a chip, 14(20), 3968-77. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4lc00620h
Conn, Charles A, et al. "Visualizing oil displacement with foam in a microfluidic device with permeability contrast." Lab on a chip vol. 14,20 (2014): 3968-77. doi: https://doi.org/10.1039/c4lc00620h
Conn CA, Ma K, Hirasaki GJ, Biswal SL. Visualizing oil displacement with foam in a microfluidic device with permeability contrast. Lab Chip. 2014 Oct 21;14(20):3968-77. doi: 10.1039/c4lc00620h. PMID: 25112724.
Copy Download .nbib Format: NLM
Share it on

Lab Chip. 2014 Oct 21;14(20):3968-77. doi: 10.1039/c4lc00620h.

Visualizing oil displacement with foam in a microfluidic device with permeability contrast.

Lab on a chip

Charles A Conn, Kun Ma, George J Hirasaki, Sibani Lisa Biswal

Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA. [email protected].

PMID: 25112724 DOI: 10.1039/c4lc00620h

Abstract

Foam mobility control and novel oil displacement mechanisms were observed in a microfluidic device representing a porous media system with layered permeability. Foam was pre-generated using a flow-focusing microfluidic device and injected into an oil-wet, oil-saturated 2-D PDMS microfluidic device. The device is designed with a central fracture flanked by high-permeability and low-permeability zones stratified in the direction of injection. A 1 : 1, 1% blend of alpha olefin sulfonate 14-16 (AOS) and lauryl betaine (LB) surfactants produced stable foam in the presence of paraffin oil. The oil saturation and pressure drop across the microfluidic device were measured as a function of time and the injected pore volume, indicating an increase in apparent viscosity for foam with an accompanying decrease in oil saturation. In contrast to the control experiments, foam was shown to more effectively mobilize trapped oil by increasing the flow resistance in the fracture and high-permeability zones and by diverting the surfactant solution into adjacent low-permeability zones. The foam was observed to separate into gas-rich and aqueous-rich phases depending on matrix permeability, suggesting that it is not appropriate to treat foam as a homogeneous dispersion of gas and liquid.

Publication Types