A filtration model for the flow of dilute, stable emulsions in porous media—II. Parameter evaluation and estimation

Abstract

Part I of this work outlined a new theory, based on deep-bed filtration concepts, to describe the flow of dilute, stable emulsions in underground porous media. Here, in Part II, we quantitatively test the proposed theory against experimental data and we indicate how the filtration model parameters can be estimated from first principles. Comparison is made between the theory and data on transient permeability and effluent concentration for dilute, oil-in-water emulsions of mean drop-size diameters ranging from 1 to 10 μm and volume concentrations of 0.5–2.5% flowing in quartz sandpacks of 0.57–2.0 μm 2 permeability. The pH of the continuous aqueous phase is kept constant at 10. Filtration theory successfully represents the data, permitting unambiguous evaluation of the theoretical parameters. Procedures are described for a priori calculation of the filtration parameters from knowledge of the drop size and the pore-size and grain-size distributions of the porous medium. Good agreement is achieved between the experimentally determined parameters and their estimated values. Thus, the proposed filtration model provides a reliable tool for predicting emulsion flow behaviour in porous media.