基于微流控技术的表面活性剂强化驱油研究进展

实现老油田和非常规油田提高采收率评价方法的创新有着重要的科学意义和工程价值。微流控技术可以复现油藏微米、纳米级孔隙结构,并且原位观测微米、纳米级孔隙结构中油藏流体和驱替相流体的流动和相变过程。与传统岩心驱替实验评价方法相比,微流控技术同时具有实时可视化、受限尺度小、样品消耗量少和测量时间短等优点,使之逐步成为研究和筛选驱替剂的有效评价技术方法。得益于优异的界面活性,表面活性剂已成为化学驱中备受关注的一种驱替物质。通过对基于微流控技术的表面活性剂驱油的最新实验研究进行调研,详细介绍了微流控技术研究表面活性剂强化驱油的系统组成,重点分析了表面活性剂乳化体系驱油机理和表面活性剂非乳化体系驱油机理。在表面活性剂乳化驱油体系中,针对不同油藏类型分析了表面活性剂的应用,包括微乳液体系的驱油机理和乳状液体系的驱油机理。在表面活性剂非乳化驱油体系中,详细分析了传统表面活性剂和生物表面活性剂以非乳化作用强化驱油的机理,并对微流控技术在油气田开发领域的应用进行了展望。

Research progress of surfactant enhanced oil recovery based on microfluidics technology

It is of great scientific significance and engineering value to enable the innovation in EOR evaluation methods for old and unconventional oilfields. Microfluidic based reservoir-on-a-chip technology simply reproduces micro- and nano-pore structure to mimic reservoir porous media and provides direct visualization of multiphase flow, mass transport and phase behaviors of fluids within these confinements. Compared to conventional core flooding tests, microfluidic approaches demonstrate unique advantages of in situ visualization, availability in micro/nano confinement, low sample consumption and time efficacy. Surfactant injection has become one of commonly used chemical flooding approaches due to its excellent performance in mitigating interfacial tensions. In recent years, both academic and industrial community have witnessed a growing trend in research on evaluation of surfactant-based EOR using microfluidics. In this paper, we summarized the up-to-date research progress on microfluidics-based surfactant EOR evaluation, including the typical experimental apparatus, the mechanisms of emulsification and non-emulsification of oil-aqueous multiphase system in micropores and microchannels, and, specific case studies covering a variety of typical reservoirs. The paper aims to provide a systematic overview of microfluidic methods as an important option to investigate the rich physical and chemical mechanisms in surfactant based EOR process.