Effect of Bénard-Marangoni flow on the bypassed oil recovery: Micromodel study

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study to show the impact of Bénard Marangoni flow (type of Marangoni convective flow caused by temperature variation on the interface of fluids) on fluid flow in porous media. The importance of marangoni mechanism has been rarely addressed in the oil recovery mechanisms in the related literature. In this regard, cold gas (Carbon dioxide or methane) has been injected into a fractured system to recover the bypassed oil in matrix via convective fluxes induced by interfacial tension gradient.Results demonstrate that the thermal Marangoni flow improves oil recovery significantly by enhancing the flux of oil/injectant from/into the matrix. Furthermore, the amount and rate of oil recovery are proportional to Marangoni number. Marangoni flow in carbon dioxide injection is much stronger than methane injection, owing to larger amount of interfacial tension gradient.