Interfacial Tension Technique Research Articles

Molecular dynamics simulation of surfactant reducing MMP between CH4 and n-decane

Reinjecting produced methane offers cost-efficiency and environmental benefits for enhances oil recovery. High minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) in methane-oil systems poses a challenge. To overcome this, researchers are increasingly focusing on using surfactants to reduce MMP, thus enhancing the effectiveness of methane injections for oil recovery. This study investigated the impact of pressure and temperature on the equilibrium interfacial tension of the CH4+n-decane system using molecular dynamics simulations and the vanishing interfacial tension technique. The primary goal was to assess the potential of surfactants in lowering MMP. Among four tested surfactants, ME-6 exhibited the most promise by reducing MMP by 14.10% at 373 K. Key findings include that the addition of ME-6 enriching CH4 at the interface, enhancing its solubility in n-decane, improving n-decane diffusion capacity, CH4 weakens n-decane interactions and strengthens its own interaction with n-decane. As the difference in interactions of n-decane with ME-6's ends decreases, the system trends towards a mixed phase. This research sets the stage for broader applications of mixed-phase methane injection in reservoirs, with the potential for reduced gas flaring and environmental benefits.

Chemical-assisted minimum miscibility pressure reduction between oil and methane

Miscible gas injection is an important enhanced oil recovery technique due to favourable displacement efficiency by eliminating interfacial tension (IFT) between the injected gas and oil phases. Miscible displacement often results in far higher recovery compared to immiscible displacement. However, miscibility can be difficult to achieve in high temperature reservoirs due to high minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) with increasing reservoir temperature and in shallow reservoirs where MMP would be higher than fracture pressure. Limited studies have been performed to explore the potential of reducing MMP in CO2-oil system using chemical additives. These additives work by collecting at the boundary between the two phases thereby reducing the interfacial tension. Specifically, none have investigated potential chemical additives to reduce the MMP in methane-oil systems, which limits the potential of methane injection. We thus investigated the effect of promising chemicals (surfactant based & alcohol based) for reducing the MMP in the methane-oil system at different temperatures (333 & 373 K) for an oil with a high acidity (4.0 mg KOH/g). Results using the vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique show that the tested surfactant-based chemicals reduce the MMP (methane-crude oil) by up to 9% at 373 K, whereas the tested alcohol-based chemicals have little effect on the MMP. Moreover, the results show that increasing temperature improves chemical performance and yields a higher MMP reduction, suggesting that these additives are more effective in high temperature reservoirs. The outlined research likely expands the application envelop of miscible natural gas injection in shallow and high-temperature reservoirs, in addition to the environmental benefits of reducing the associated gas flaring.

Studying Phase Behavior of Oil/Natural-Gas Systems for Designing Gas-Injection Operations: A Montney Case Study

SummaryAdvances in horizontal drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing have unlocked tight-oil resources, such as the Montney Formation in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. However, the average oil-recovery factor after primary production is 5 to 10% of the original oil in place. The aims of this study are to investigate phase behavior and to estimate the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) of the Montney oil/natural-gas systems.First, we measure the MMPs of the oil/gas systems using the vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique. The gas samples are methane (C1) and mixtures of methane and ethane (C1/C2). Second, we perform constant-composition-expansion (CCE) tests to study the phase behavior of the oil/gas systems using a pressure/volume/temperature (PVT) cell. To complement the VIT and CCE tests, we perform bulk-phase tests to visualize vaporizing/condensing phenomena at the oil/gas interface using a visualization cell. Finally, we use the measured CCE and MMP data to calibrate the Peng-Robinson (Robinson and Peng 1978) equation of state (PR-EOS) and predict the MMP of the oil/gas systems using ternary diagrams. The results suggest that the dominant mechanism for developing miscibility conditions for oil/C1 and oil/C1/C2 systems is vaporizing and condensing gas drive, respectively. According to the results of the VIT and CCE tests, increasing C2 mole fraction in the gas mixtures significantly reduces MMP of the oil/gas system (from 4,366 psi for oil/C1 to 1,467 psi for oil/C1/C2 with 71.3 mol% C2) and increases the oil-swelling factor (from 1.47 to 1.61 by increasing C2 mol% from 0 to 70 mol%). The results of visualization tests show that the presence of C2 in the injection gas significantly enhances oil swelling compared with the pure-C1 case. We observe vaporizing flows of oil components in all tests and strong condensing flows of C1 and C2 into the oil phase in the C1/C2 test with increasing gas-injection pressure. The MMP values predicted by plotting two-phase equilibrium data on ternary diagrams appear to be in good agreement with the measured ones. The results can be used to optimize the injection-gas composition and operating pressure in the Montney.

Experimental Determinations of Minimum Miscibility Pressures Using Hydrocarbon Gases and CO2 for Crude Oils from the Bakken and Cut Bank Oil Reservoirs

Minimum miscibility pressures (MMPs) were measured at reservoir temperatures using a capillary-rise vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique for four crude oils collected from different format...

Study of Asphaltene Precipitation during CO2 Injection into Oil Reservoirs in the Presence of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles by Interfacial Tension and Bond Number Measurements

CO2 injection is one of the most frequently used enhanced oil recovery methods; however, it causes asphaltene precipitation in porous media and wellbore and wellhead facilities. Carbon dioxide saturated with nanoparticles can be used to enhance oil recovery with lower asphaltene precipitation issues. In this study, the vanishing interfacial tension technique was used to investigate the possibility of diminishing asphaltene precipitation by nanoparticles. The interfacial tension (IFT) of synthetic oil/carbon dioxide was measured using the pendant drop method. The results illustrated that, for synthetic oil samples containing asphaltene, the IFT data versus pressure decrease linearly with two different slopes at low- and high-pressure ranges. At high pressures, the slope of the plot is lower than the one in the low-pressure range. The addition of iron oxide nanoparticles to the oil solution reduces the interfacial tension at higher pressures with a steeper slope, showing that nanoparticles can decrease asphaltene precipitation. The plot of Bond number versus pressure also confirmed the impact of nanoparticles on reducing asphaltene precipitation. In terms of the temperature effect, the presence of nanoparticles at 50 °C resulted in a 16.34% reduction in asphaltene precipitation and a 19.65% reduction at 70 °C. The minimum miscibility pressure changed from 10.17 to 30.96 MPa at 70 °C; however, in the presence of nanoparticles, it reduced from 10.06 to 16.56. Therefore, the technique introduced in this study could be applied to avoid the problems associated with altering the gas injection mode from miscible to immiscible.

A novel method for application of nanoparticles as direct asphaltene inhibitors during miscible CO2 injection

Asphaltene precipitation is one of the main technical challenges during the miscible gas injection. The asphaltene may deposit on the rock surface and it may change the reservoir wettability and reduces permeability. This paper focused on the asphaltene precipitation by liquid-free asphaltene inhibitors at reservoir conditions. The Fe3O4 and Al2O3 nanoparticles were used as direct asphaltene inhibitors (DAI) during CO2 injection. The cloud point pressures were measured to ensure that the CO2/nanoparticles mixtures are in single-phase conditions. After that, the vanishing interfacial tension technique was considered to evaluate the effect of DAI on minimum miscibility pressure. Moreover, the asphaltene precipitation during CO2/nanoparticles injection was studied for both volatile and intermediate live oils at reservoir conditions for DAI concentration varied from 500 to 3000 ppm. The results showed that the DAI can reduce the amounts of asphaltene precipitation during miscible CO2/nanoparticles injection at reservoir conditions. In addition, the CO2/nanoparticles injection reduced the asphaltene precipitation in comparison to pure CO2 injection. Also, the mixtures containing Fe3O4 can provide more performance than Al2O3 solutions, so the effect of solubility is more dominant than the aggregation impact during DAI injection.

Molecular dynamics simulation to estimate minimum miscibility pressure for oil with pure and impure CO2

CO2 enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) has gained great attention worldwide for increasing oil production and reducing greenhouse emissions. In CO2-EOR project, the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) is the key factor to determine the possibility of CO2 miscible-phase displacement. In this study, we used molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to estimate the MMP of pure and impure CO2 with oil by obtaining interfacial tensions (IFTs) based on the vanishing interfacial tension technique. To get accurate IFTs, modified Lorentz-Berthelot rules were developed for all simulations. Then, we performed MD simulations for CO2 + n-hexane binary system, CO2 + n-hexane + n-decane ternary system and complex CO2 + crude oil system to calculate the MMPs. Firstly, MMPs predicted by MD simulation show good agreement with previous experimental data. Secondly, the effects of injected gas components, oil components and reservoir temperature on the MMP are investigated. The results demonstrate that methane and N2 will increase the MMP of CO2-oil system significantly; the effects of a certain oil component on the MMP depend on the properties of crude oil, generally speaking, heavy oil components will increase the MMP while light oil components decrease it; temperature will increase the MMP of CO2-oil system, while it will decrease the MMP of N2-oil system, which is due to their different solubility in oil. Thirdly, sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the effects of those influence parameters on the MMP of CO2-oil system, finding that N2 concentration in CO2 and reservoir temperature have more significant impacts on the MMP.

Nanoscale-extended correlation to calculate gas solvent minimum miscibility pressures in tight oil reservoirs

In this paper, a novel nanoscale-extended correlation is developed to calculate the minimum miscibility pressures (MMPs) for a wide range of dead and live tight oil−gas solvent systems in bulk phase and nanopores. First, experimentally, the slim-tube and coreflood tests as well as the vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique are conducted to measure the MMPs of three oil‒gas systems. Second, the newly-developed correlation is proposed as a function of the reservoir temperature, molecular weight of C5+, mole fraction ratios of volatile components to intermediate components in oil and gas samples, and pore radius. Third, theoretically, the new correlation is analyzed on a basis of an oil‒gas MMP database from this study and literature that covers 101 oil‒gas MMP data for fifteen oil and thirteen gas samples at different reservoir temperatures in bulk phase and nanopores. A total of 40 commonly-used existing correlations are analyzed and reviewed. Compared to the seven existing correlations, the new correlation is found to provide the most accurate MMPs with an overall percentage average absolute deviation (AAD%) of 5.72% and maximum absolute deviation (MAD%) of 12.96% for different dead and live oil‒pure CO2 systems in bulk phase. Moreover, for the different oil‒pure and impure gas solvent systems, the new correlation leads to the best calculation accuracy of the MMPs with an overall AAD% of 4.70% and MAD% of 15.81% in comparison with the four existing correlations. More importantly, the new correlation is found to calculate the MMPs of different dead and live oil‒pure and impure gas solvent systems in nanopores in an accurate, efficient, and physical correct manner. The overall AAD% and MAD% in terms of the MMP calculations in nanopores from the new correlation are determined to be 6.91% and 13.66%, respectively.

Evaluation of four CO2 injection schemes for unlocking oils from low-permeability formations under immiscible conditions

In this paper, four different injection schemes, i.e., CO2 continuous gas injection (CGI), gas injection (GI) + soaking, pulse injection, and injection-alternating-production (IAP), for the high-temperature and pressure CO2 immiscible flooding in low-permeability formations are experimentally studied. A series of comprehensive and optimum practical strategies with respect to the four immiscible CO2 injection processes in the low-permeability formations can be determined from this study. More specifically, a total of 10 immiscible coreflood tests are conducted at the injection pressure of 20.0 MPa and reservoir temperature of 130.0 °C by means of the four different injection schemes. The oil viscosity and density are experimentally measured to be reduced with the temperature increase and the minimum miscibility pressure is measured to be 30.0 MPa at 130.0 °C from the vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique. Among Tests No. 1–10 with the same experimental conditions, the measured oil recovery factor (ORF) of Test No. 9, which is the CO2 IAP with the injection rates of 0.5 cm3/min, is the highest at 69.06%. In Test No. 4, the CO2 GI + soaking at the injection rate of 0.5 cm3/min has the second highest ORF of 65.21%. Tests No. 1, 4, 7, and 9 at the injection rate of 0.5 cm3/min outperform other tests with the same injection scheme in terms of the ORF under the same experimental conditions but at larger injection rates. Thus, a small CO2 injection rate is beneficial to increase the ORF for all schemes except for the CO2 pulse injections. It is found that soaking is an important step for CO2 enhanced oil recovery at the immiscible conditions. Moreover, the smaller injection rate also contributes to the delay of CO2 breakthrough so that a higher ORF can be reached at a lower cost. Finally, the measured asphaltene and wax contents in the produced oil are found to reduce in the percentages of 33–51% and 14–25% from the beginning period to the end of the oil production.

Minimum miscibility pressure and interfacial tension measurements for N2 and CO2 gases in contact with W/O emulsions for different temperatures and pressures

In this research, the IFT behavior of two different specimens of W/O emulsion with distinctive soluble ingredients of water in contact with CO2 and N2 was examined. The Minimum Miscibility Pressure (MMP) of the mentioned gases with emulsion specimens were measured and compared with the case of the original crude oil with no water content. This study focuses on the quantity of water in the W/O emulsion specimens and its effects on IFT and MMP values. The IFT behavior of W/O emulsions was surveyed for two different cases of distinctive water soluble ingredients, i.e. sea water and reservoir brine. The tests were performed under high pressure-high temperature (HPHT) conditions utilizing Axisymmetric Drop Shape Analysis (ADSA) procedure. The equilibrium IFT values between the two distinctive specimens of W/O emulsions with different amounts and compositions of dispersed water and two types of gases, i.e. CO2 and N2, were measured. The outcomes were compared with the behavior of original crude oil, i.e. crude oil with no water content. The temperature was set in two distinctive values of 313.15 K and 333.15 K, and the pressure changes in the scope of 1 MPa–20.68 MPa. The outcomes manifested that the IFT behavior of the emulsion could be correlated directly with pressure for two distinctive variation rates, categorized in two different regions. Comparing to the original crude oil, in the case of W/O emulsion the equilibrium IFT increases, and this incremental behavior is much significant in the case of N2-emuslion system. Additionally, the outcomes of IFT versus pressure, in the case of N2-emulsion system, manifested that the slope of the first part of the curve decreases with increment in dispersed water content in the crude oil. However, the IFT values versus pressure in the second region were not affected by the water content of the emulsion. Also, Vanishing Interfacial Tension (VIT) technique was used to estimate the MMP of N2-emulsion systems. According to the outcomes, MMP was increased in the existence of water, and the incremental behavior becomes significant when the water content is increased. It is worthy to note that the outcomes of the CO2-emulsion systems manifested that both IFT behavior and MMP values were not changed significantly by water content. Finally, in light of the test information gathered in this research, various relationships were proposed to express the IFT and MMP correlations as dependants of pressure at distinctive temperatures.

Application of predicted bubble-rising velocities for estimating the minimum miscibility pressures of the light crude oil–CO2 systems with the rising bubble apparatus

In this paper, an empirical correlation is modified and applied to predict the CO2 bubble-rising velocity (BRV) in the light crude oil. On a basis of the predicted BRVs, the minimum miscibility pressures (MMPs) of three light crude oil−CO2 systems are estimated by using the BRV criterion with the rising-bubble apparatus (RBA). First, a correction term of s·2PρL0.5 is added into the BRV correlation in order to reflect the velocity of falling liquid film in velocity field by applying the Bernoulli’s theorem. The modified correlation is tuned to match the BRVs of the dead light oil–pure and impure CO2 systems from the literature and two respective numerical coefficients s of −0.00046 and −0.00028 are determined by using the non-linear least-square method. It is found that the BRV is positive proportionally increased with the bubble diameter, interfacial tension, and density difference. Second, the predicted BRVs are used to estimate the MMPs by using the BRV criterion. Two respective MMPs of the dead light oil–pure and impure CO2 systems are found to be 12.4 MPa and 23.7 MPa at Tres = 53.0 °C, which agree well with 12.4–12.9 MPa from the coreflood tests and 23.4 MPa from the RBA tests or 23.4–23.5 MPa from the vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique. In addition, a live light oil–pure CO2 system is added to validate the modified BRV correlation. By means of the predicted BRVs, the MMP of the live oil–pure CO2 system is estimated to be 15.5 MPa, which matches well with 15.2–15.4 MPa from the slim-tube tests. The modified empirical correlation can improve the efficiency and capability of the BRV criterion.

Modeling interfacial tension and minimum miscibility pressure in paraffin-nitrogen systems: Application to gas injection processes

Nitrogen has emerged as an attractive gas for many petroleum and chemical engineering applications such as gas lift, gas recycling, pressure maintenance, and enhanced oil recovery, especially for some high-pressure reservoirs. Accurate determination of interfacial tension (IFT) in nitrogen/hydrocarbon systems is crucial and required for numerous applications in chemical and petroleum industries. The experimental measurements of IFT are costly, cumbersome and time consuming, especially at high pressure-high temperature conditions. In this study, the IFT of normal alkanes from n-C5 to n-C16 (as the representatives of crude oil) and nitrogen is modeled at a wide range of pressure (from 0.1 to 69MPa) and temperature (from 295 to 442K) using group method of data handling (GMDH). Three inputs were used for modeling including pressure, temperature, and molecular weight of normal alkane. To develop the most efficient model, 60% of the dataset was used for model development and the remaining 40% was used to check the validity and accuracy of the developed model. The proposed model predicts the data satisfactorily with an average absolute relative error of 3.81% and 3.91% in training and testing subsets, respectively. Then, the proposed model was compared to the well-known IFT models, namely Linear Gradient Theory (LGT), Density Gradient Theory (DGT), and Parachor approaches combined with the Volume Translated Predictive Peng Robinson Equation of State (VT-PPR EOS). The results demonstrate that the proposed model not only is superior to the existing models in terms of accuracy, but also can predict the IFT with a simple mathematical expression with a quite low computational cost. Finally, a simple-to-use algorithm was proposed to calculate the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) in normal alkane/nitrogen systems based on the measurements with vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique, which predicts the MMP with high accuracy.

Experimental investigation of miscibility conditions of dead and live asphaltenic crude oil\u2013CO2 systems

Carbon dioxide (CO2) injection is a well-established enhanced oil recovery method. The optimization process of CO2 injection is usually performed through estimation of two physical properties, i.e., minimum miscibility and first-contact miscibility pressures (MMP and FCMP) for the crude oil–CO2 system. In this experimental study, the equilibrium IFT of the crude oil–CO2 system is measured at (313.15 and 323.15 K) for two oil types (i.e., live and dead crude oil) using the axisymmetric pendant drop shape analysis method. Vanishing interfacial tension technique is also applied to estimate the MMP and FCMP. The experimental results demonstrate that IFT decreases with different trends as the equilibrium pressure increases for the systems of live oil/CO2 and dead oil/CO2 systems. The IFT test results demonstrate that the estimated MMP and FCMP values of crude oil–CO2 system increase with temperature. It was also observed that the presence of methane gas in the oil phase increases the MMP value, whereas it decreases the FCMP.

Highly effective emulsification/demulsification with a CO2-switchable superamphiphile

This article reports a systematic study on a highly CO2-responsive superamphiphile (D-OA) in preparation of CO2-switchable oil-in-water emulsions. The D-OA was assembled with Jeffamine D 230 and oleic acid (HOA) via electrostatic interaction, which was characterized using FT-IR, 1HNMR, surface tension, and interfacial tension techniques. The assembled gemini-like superamphiphile D-OA was shown to have a low cmc value and adsorb quickly at the paraffin oil/water interface, decreasing the interfacial tension effectively. Highly stable O/W emulsions were obtained by mixing D-OA aqueous solution and paraffin oil. After bubbling CO2 through the stable emulsions for just 20s, quick phase separation was observed; while upon removal of CO2 by bubbling N2 at 60°C, stable emulsions were recreated. The reversible assembly and disassembly of the D-OA superamphiphile by adding or removing CO2 were considered as the cause of demulsification and re-emulsification processes. The rapid and complete demulsification of the system in response to CO2 addition and removal may have potential applications in emulsion-based fabrication/separation and enhanced oil recovery processes.

Two new quantitative technical criteria for determining the minimum miscibility pressures (MMPs) from the vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique

In this paper, two new quantitative technical criteria are developed to determine the minimum miscibility pressures (MMPs) from the vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique: the linear correlation coefficient (LCC) criterion and the critical interfacial thickness (CIT) criterion. Six series of dynamic interfacial tension (IFT) tests for the dead and live light crude oil–CO2 systems are conducted under different test conditions. The MMP is determined when the LCC is smaller than 0.990 or the interfacial thickness is smaller than 1.0nm for the first time. The determined respective MMPs of 12.9MPa and 13.2MPa for the dead and live light crude oil–CO2 systems from the VIT technique agree well with the MMPs of 12.4–12.9MPa for the former system from the coreflood tests and fairly well with 15.2–15.4MPa for the latter system from the slim-tube tests. In addition, the specific effects of three experimental factors on the determined MMPs are studied by applying the two new quantitative technical criteria: (a) the initial vs. equilibrium IFTs; (b) the oil composition; and (c) the initial gas–oil ratio (GOR). The measured initial other than equilibrium IFTs are found to be sufficiently accurate to determine the MMP from the VIT technique. This is because the pendant oil drops used in the dynamic IFT tests are so small that they can be saturated with CO2 almost instantaneously. The live light crude oil pre-saturated with CH4-dominated hydrocarbons has a slightly higher MMP in comparison with the dead light crude oil. Moreover, the initial GOR effect on the MMP is found to be negligible in a lower GOR range (1:1–10:1 in volume) or in a large CO2 concentration range (31.76–94.69mol%). It becomes pronounced in a higher GOR range (200:1–4000:1 in volume) or in an extremely small range of high CO2 concentrations (98.79–99.99mol%).

Effect of cross-linker glutaraldehyde on gastric digestion of emulsified albumin

Human serum albumin (HSA) has been shown to be an ideal protein for nanoparticle preparation. These are usually prepared by using cross linker agents such as glutaraldehyde (GAD). Liquid lipid nanocapsules (LLN) constitute a new generation of nanoparticles more biocompatible and versatile for oral delivery of lipophylic drugs. The first barrier that an orally administered formulation must cross is the gastrointestinal tract. Hence, it is crucial to address the impact of gastrointestinal digestion on these structures in order to achieve an optimal formulation. This study evaluates the effect of gastric digestion on HSA emulsions structured with GAD as a model substrate for the preparation of LLN. This is done by SDS-PAGE, emulsion microstructure, and interfacial tension techniques. Our results demonstrate that the cross- linking procedure with GAD strongly inhibits pepsin digestion by formation of inter- and/or intramolecular covalent bonds between substrate amino acids. Emulsification of HSA also protects from gastric digestion probably by the orientation of the HSA molecule, which exposes the majority of pepsin cleaving sites preferably to the hydrophobic part of the oil-water interface. In this emulsified HSA, cross-linking with GAD at the interface promotes structural modifications on the HSA interfacial layer, restricting the access of pepsin to cleavage sites. We identify interfacial aspects underlying enzymatic hydrolysis of the protein. Assuring that HSA-GAD structures resist passage through the gastric compartment is crucial is important towards the rational design of oral delivery systems and the first step to get the complete digestion profile.

A rigorous approach for determining interfacial tension and minimum miscibility pressure in paraffin-CO2 systems: Application to gas injection processes

Determination of interfacial tension (IFT) between the reservoir crude oil and the injecting gas as well as the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) are the keys for successful gas injection process for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the matured oil fields. In this study, a novel supervised learning method called least square support vector machine (LSSVM) was developed to estimate IFT of paraffin-CO2 system. Besides, the MMP of the same system is estimated using the same model by using the vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique. The IFT was assumed to be an explicit function of pressure, temperature and molecular weight of paraffin, which was considered as the basis of the proposed model. The results showed that the proposed model is able to predict the IFT values with an average absolute percentage relative error of 4.7%. The highest relative error for estimation of MMP was found to be only 6.79%. Also, relevancy factor showed that pressure has the largest impact on the IFT of paraffin-CO2 systems. At the end, the Leverage approach demonstrated that the proposed model is statistically valid and acceptable and only 3.8% of the data points were out of the applicability domain of the model.

Influence of interfacial and bulk properties of cellulose ethers on lipolysis of oil-in-water emulsions

Cellulose ethers are usually used as secondary emulsifiers. Different types of commercial hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) have been used here as the main emulsifier of oil-in-water emulsions to probe their impact on the lipid digestibility under simulated intestinal conditions. The droplet size distribution and ζ-potential of the emulsions subjected to in-vitro lipolysis have been compared with that of control samples (non-digested). The lipolysis has been quantified over time by means of the pH-stat method. The displacement of HPMC from the oil–water interface by bile salts has been assessed by interfacial tension technique. Results show that HPMC delays the lipid digestion of emulsions regardless of the Mw and methoxyl content. The destabilisation of emulsions under intestinal conditions as well as the resistance of HPMC to be displaced from the emulsion interface by bile salts may contribute to this feature. This provides new insights into the mechanisms whereby dietary fibre reduces fat absorption.

New qualitative and quantitative technical criteria for determining the minimum miscibility pressures (MMPs) with the rising-bubble apparatus (RBA)

In this paper, one novel qualitative criterion, the bubble break-up (BBU), and two new quantitative criteria, the bubble-rising height (BRH) and bubble-rising velocity (BRV), are proposed and studied to determine the minimum miscibility pressures (MMPs) with the rising-bubble apparatus (RBA). Two respective series of pure and impure CO2-bubble tests in a light crude oil are conducted at six different test pressures and the actual reservoir temperature of Tres=53.0°C. First, the MMPs of the light crude oil–pure and impure CO2 systems are estimated and compared by using four existing (i.e., the bubble shape, size, colour, and rising height) and BBU qualitative criteria. Second, the BRH and BRV quantitative criteria are used to determine the MMPs of the light crude oil–pure CO2 system, in comparison with those from the coreflood tests and vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) technique. Third, these two new quantitative criteria are also applied to determine the MMPs of the light crude oil–impure CO2 (74.87mol.% CO2+25.13mol.% CH4) system and compare them with that from the VIT technique. It is found that the BBU criterion is consistent with the four existing qualitative criteria for estimating the MMPs. By means of the BRH and BRV criteria, two respective MMP ranges of the light crude oil–pure and impure CO2 systems are found to be 11.7–12.4MPa and 23.4–23.5MPa at Tres=53.0°C. Such determined MMPs with the RBA are slightly lower than those from the coreflood tests for the light crude oil–pure CO2 system but relatively higher than those from the VIT technique for the two respective light crude oil–CO2 systems. The newly developed BRH and BRV quantitative technical criteria, plus the novel BBU qualitative technical criterion, can be used to objectively and accurately determine the MMPs with the RBA.

Determination of Gas-oil Interfacial Tension

Reliable knowledge of minimum miscibility pressure plays a vital parameter in the design and implementation of any miscible gas injection process and gas-oil interfacial tension extremely impacts on minimum miscibility pressure values. In this article two Iranian oil fields were investigated. Gas-oil interfacial tension technique relies on the measurements of gas/oil interfacial tension by pendant drop at several pressures and reservoir temperature for the first field and results were compared with generated values by the Parachor method. Then at different pressures and constant temperature (115°F) condition in the second field interfacial tension values have been evaluated for different oil-gas molar ratios.