Abstract

In order to investigate the complex natures of non-Newtonian fluid flow in the horizontal wells during ASP (Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer) flooding, a full-scale experimental facility has been designed and constructed, based on which a series of studies upon oil and ASP solution two-phase flow in a horizontal concentric annulus are conducted. The working fluids are self-made ASP solution and the mineral white oil. Results show that under the experimental conditions, the flow pattern is dominated by the dispersed flow while the alternative stratified flow is rarely seen. Similar to the single-phase flow, the pressure drop of oil and ASP two-phase flow has also an approximate exponential relationship with the mixture flow rate and first increases and then decreases with increasing the input oil volumetric fractions. The critical oil cut at which the phase inversion occurs is between approximately 30 and 40%. The achievements obtained in this study is a foundation for developing and validating the corresponding model with respect to the pressure drop of oil and ASP two-phase flow in an annuli.

Keywords:

ASP solution, experiment, horizontal annulus, non-newtonian fluid, two-phase flow,

References

1. Angeli, P. and G.F. Hewitt, 2000. Flow structure in horizontal oil-water flow. Int. J. Multiphase Flow, 26(7): 1117-1140.
   CrossRef    
2. Arirachakaran, S., K.D. Oglesby, M.S. Malinowsky, O. Shoham and J.P. Brill, 1989. An analysis of oil/water flow phenomena in horizontal pipes. Proceeding of the SPE18836 SPE Production Operations Symposium. Oklahoma, March 13-14.
   
3. Chen, T., F. Dong and D. You and Y. Chen, 1998. Studies on the rheological behavior of ASP system. J. Southwest Petrol. Univ., 20(1): 53-55.
   
4. Gupta, R.K. and R.P. Chhabra, 1996. The flow of power-law non-newtonian fluids in concentric annuli. AIChE J., 42(7): 2080-2083.
   CrossRef    
5. Hanks, R.W. and K.M. Larsen, 1979. The flow of power-law non-newtonian fluids in concentric annuli. Ind. Eng. Chem. Fundament., 18(1): 33-35.
   CrossRef    
6. Huang, L., J. Song, H. Zhou et al., 1999. Rheological behavior of Alkaline/Surfactant/ Polymer (ASP) flooging system. Acta Sci. Nat. Univ., J., 20(3): 99-101.
   
7. Li, H., 2008. The status of tertiary oil recovery both home and abroad and its development trends. Petrol. Petrochem. Today, 16(12): 19-25.
   
8. Nasr-El-Din, H.A., B.F. Hawkins and K.A. Green, 1991. Viscosity behavior of alkaline, surfactant, polyacrylamide solutions used for enhanced oil recovery. Proceeding of the SPE 21028 International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry. Anaheim, California, February 20-22.
   CrossRef    
9. Piela, K., R. Delfos, G. Ooms, J. Westerweel and R.V.A. Oliemans, 2008. On the phase inversion process in an oil-water pipe flow. Int. J. Multiphase Flow, 34(7): 665-677.
   CrossRef    
10. Shi, H., 2001. A study of oil-water flows in large diameter horizontal pipelines. Ph.D. Thesis, Ohio University, Athens.
    
11. Trallero, J.L., C. Sarica and J.P. Brill, 1997. A study of oil/water flow patterns in horizontal pipes. SPE Prod. Facil., 12(3): 165-172.
    CrossRef    
12. Uner, D., C. Ozgen and I. Tosum, 1989. Flow of a power-law fluid in an eccentric annulus. SPE Drill. Eng., 4(3): 269-272.
    CrossRef    
13. Yang, C., 2007. Enhanced Oil Recovery by Chemical Flooding. Petroleum Industry Press, China.
    

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.