Modeling of flow of oil-in-water emulsions through porous media

Formation and flow of emulsions in porous media are common in all enhanced oil recovery techniques.In most cases,oil-in-water(O/W) emulsions are formed in porous media due to oil-water interaction.Even now,detailed flow mechanisms of emulsions through porous media are not well understood.In this study,variation of rate of flow of O/W emulsions with pressure drop was studied experimentally,and rheological parameters were calculated.The pressure drop increases with an increase in oil concentration in the O/W emulsion due to high viscosity.The effective viscosity of the emulsion was calculated from the derived model and expressed as a function of shear rate while flowing through porous media.Flow of O/W emulsions of different concentrations was evaluated in sand packs of different sand sizes.Emulsions were characterized by analyzing their stability,rheological properties,and temperature effects on rheological properties.