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Oil blob populations and mobilization of trapped oil in unconsolidated packs
Author(s) -
Wardlaw N. C.,
Mckellar M.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450630401
Subject(s) - mobilization , capillary action , residual oil , population , spheres , chemistry , geology , mineralogy , petroleum engineering , materials science , composite material , physics , geography , demography , astronomy , sociology , archaeology
Abstract Residual oil was obtained by waterflooding, under water‐wet conditions, in unconsolidated packs of glass spheres at low capillary numbers. Trapped oil blobs were mobilized in a sequence of decreasing size with subsequent increases in capillary number. The larger blobs, which extend over many adjacent pores, fission repeatedly upon mobilization and the smaller daughter blobs are restranded. There is negligible oil production until the blob population has been reduced to single pore blobs (singlets). Thus, the critical capillary number for mobilization of significant amounts of oil in unconsolidated bead packs is not related to the original blob size population, but rather to the conditions necessary for mobilization of singlets.