Effect of foam quality on foam three phase displacement characteristics in porous media-A mechanistic numerical study

Abstract

Foam technology has shown great potential in enhancing oil recovery as well as fulfilling carbon geological storage practices in mature and low permeability reservoirs. To reveal the mechanism of the foam quality effect on foam displacement behavior in underground formations, numerical studies on three-phase foam flow characteristics in porous media have been carried out based on the Stochastic Bubble Population Balance (SBPB) model. Through modifying the injection gas and liquid rate ratio, various foam qualities between 40% and 90% have been set, and the effect of foam quality was taken into account with higher foam quality corresponding to the larger maximum bubble density parameter in the SBPB model. Comprehensive numerical results, including the dynamic distribution curves of the oil, water, and foam phase saturation, oil phase pressure, and the foam bubble density along the flow direction, were obtained under different foam quality cases. Parameter investigations on the bubble generation rate and the oil viscosity were carried out as well. It is observed the pressure drop and water recovery rate of the foam flooding process increases monotonously with the increasing foam quality, while the ultimate oil recovery rate shows the highest value at the intermediate foam quality of 70%. The numerical results on the foam quality effect agree well with reported experimental observations, indicating the SBPB model could characterize in mechanism the three phase foam displacement behavior in porous media.