Crisman Annual Report 2009 - Harold Vance Department of ...

Experimental Studies of Steam Injection with Surfactant for Enhancing Heavy Oil
Recovery after Waterflooding
Objectives
Steam injection with added surface active chemicals
is an EOR process aimed at recovering residual oil
after primary production. Researchers have shown
that after waterflooding, the oil swept area can be
increased by steam surfactant due to reduced steam
override effect and reduced interfacial tension
between oil and water in the formation.
was tamped into the cell.
A 3.0 wt% nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 was coinjected
with the steam superheated to 200°C and
pressured to 100 psig. For the vertical cell runs,
steam injection rates were 5.5 ml/min and 2.5 ml/
min TX-100; for the horizontal cell runs, steam
injection rates were 4.0 ml/min and 1.0 ml/min TX-
100 solution.
The main objective of this research is to evaluate the
effect on oil recovery of steam surfactant injection
compared to that of pure steam injection. The
experimental study will use a 1D displacement cell
containing a sand mix of 20.5°API California oil.
Approach
Two experimental models were used: a vertical
cylindrical cell 67 cm long x 7.4 cm ID (Fig. 1) and
Fig. 2. Horizontal cell.
CRISMAN INSTITUTE
Fig. 1. Vertical cell.
a horizontal cell 110.5 cm long x 3.5 cm ID (Fig. 2).
The horizontal smaller diameter cell is less subject to
channeling and is therefore more representative of
one-dimensional steam injection process. A uniform
mixture of sand, water and 20.5°API California oil
Project Information
1.3.23 Experimental Study of Steam Injection with
Surfactants for Enhancing Heavy Oil Recovery
Contacts
Daulat Mamora
979.845.2962
daulat.mamora@pe.tamu.edu
Dinmukhamed Sunnatov
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Crisman Annual Report 2009