Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of interfacial tension and of wettability upon the tertiary recovery of residual oil by a low interfacial tension waterflood, a static analysis of a single irregular pore partially filled with residual oil was performed. There is a critical value for the pressure drop over this pore below which the residual oil cannot be displaced but instead will assume a static configuration. The pore was idealized by saying that its radius is a sinusoidal function of axial position. It was recognized that the pressure drop across the pore under static conditions is a function of the pore geometry, the volume of the oil segment, the position of the oil segment in the pore, the crude oil--water interfacial tension, the advancing contact angle, and the receding contact angle. The relationship between the advancing and receding contact angles was taken to be the class III behavior established by Morrow (1974) for roughened polytetrafluorethylene surfaces. As the result of this analysis, it was found that, for the most efficient displacement of residual oil, the porous structure should be water-wet. Intermediate wettability may be less desirable than either oil-wet or water-wet behavior.
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