Microfluidic Screening for Enhanced Oil Recovery Chemicals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for evaluating the effectiveness of chemicals for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) are labor-intensive and time-consuming, requiring traditional sand pack and core flood tests that are not efficient for rapid screening.
Innovation Solution
A high-throughput system using microscale fluid channels with porous structures mimicking reservoir conditions, allowing for simultaneous testing of multiple fluids by injecting aqueous-based fluids and imaging to determine oil recovery effectiveness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional sand pack and core flood tests are used to evaluate chemical effectiveness for EOR, then measurement precision and reliability are improved, but productivity is worsened due to labor-intensive and time-consuming procedures
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the evaluation process into multiple parallel microfluidic channels, each containing a porous structure that represents reservoir conditions. Multiple fluids can be tested simultaneously in separate channels, transforming a sequential process into a parallel one, thereby significantly improving screening productivity while maintaining measurement precision through controlled individual channel conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates simplified microscale copies of reservoir conditions using porous structures in microfluidic channels. These copies replicate the essential characteristics of earth formations at a much smaller scale, allowing rapid screening of multiple chemicals without requiring large-scale physical reservoir models, thus improving both productivity and efficiency
2Reliability
If traditional core flood tests are used for chemical screening, then reliability of results is improved, but loss of time is worsened due to extended testing duration
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the scale parameter from macroscale core flood tests to microscale fluid channel tests. By reducing the physical dimensions while maintaining representative porous structures and flow conditions, the testing duration is dramatically reduced while preserving the reliability of results through careful control of fluid dynamics and porous media properties
Solution Approach 2:
The invention performs preliminary screening of multiple chemicals simultaneously in parallel microfluidic channels before committing to extensive core flood tests. This preliminary action identifies promising candidates quickly, reducing the overall time loss by filtering out ineffective chemicals early in the screening process
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method provides rapid and efficient screening of chemicals, differentiating between good, average, and poor performing surfactants/polymer performance, offering higher data resolution and repeatability compared to conventional methods, with results similar to sand pack and core flood tests but obtained faster with less operational difficulty.
Implementation Method 1
each of the fluid channels having a porous structure configured to represent a condition of an earth formation
Implementation Method 2
determining an effectiveness of the aqueous based fluids in forcing the petroleum hydrocarbon out of the fluid channels
Data Source
AI summary
A method of screening a plurality of fluids for an effectiveness in enhancing oil recovery comprises introducing a petroleum hydrocarbon into a plurality of separate fluid channels to saturate the fluid channels, each of the fluid channels having a porous structure configured to represent a condition of an earth formation; injecting a plurality of aqueous based fluids into the fluid channels; imaging the fluid channels to provide a plurality of images; analyzing the images to determine amounts of the petroleum hydrocarbon remain in the fluid channels after injection of the aqueous based fluids; and determining an effectiveness of the aqueous based fluids in forcing the petroleum hydrocarbon out of the fluid channels.