Beneficial effects of wettability altering surfactants in oil-wet fractured reservoirs

In fractured reservoirs, an effective matrix-fracture mass transfer is required for oil recovery. Surfactants have long been considered for oil recovery enhancement, mainly in terms of their ability to reduce oil–water interfacial tension. These surfactants are effective when the fractured formations are water-wet, where capillary imbibition of surfactants from the fracture into the matrix contributes to oil recovery. However, another beneficial aspect of surfactants, namely their ability to alter wettability, remains to be explored and exploited. Surfactants capable of altering wettability can be especially beneficial in oil-wet fractured formations, where the surfactant in the fracture diffuses into the matrix and alters the wettability, enabling imbibition of even more surfactant into the matrix. This sequential process of initial diffusion followed by imbibition continues well into the matrix yielding significant enhancements in oil recovery.In order to test this hypothesis of sequential diffusion–imbibition phenomenon, Dual-Drop Dual-Crystal (DDDC) contact angle experiments have been conducted using fractured Yates dolomite reservoir fluids, two types of surfactants (nonionic and anionic) and dolomite rock substrates. A new experimental procedure was developed in which crude oil equilibrated with reservoir brine has been exposed to surfactant to simulate the matrix-fracture interactions in fractured reservoirs. This procedure enables the measurements of dynamic contact angles and oil–water interfacial tensions, in addition to providing the visual observations of the dynamic behavior of crude oil trapped in the rock matrix as it encounters the diffusing surfactant from the fractures. Both the measurements and visual observations indicate wettability alterations of the matrix surface from oil-wet to less oil-wet or intermediate wet by the surfactants. Thus this study is of practical importance to oil-wet fractured formations where surfactant-induced wettability alterations can result in significant oil recovery enhancements. In addition, this study has also identified the need to include contact angle term in the dimensionless Bond number formulations for better quantitative interpretation of rock–fluids interactions.     

Interfacial reactions in In-Sn/Ni couples and phase equilibria of the In-Sn-Ni system

The In-Sn-Ni alloys of various compositions were prepared and annealed at 160°C and 240°C. No ternary compounds were found; however, most of the binary compounds had extensive ternary solubility. There was a continuous solid solution between the Ni₃Sn phase and Ni₃In phase. The Sn-In/Ni couples, made of Sn-In alloys with various compositions, were reacted at 160°C and 240°C and formed only one compound for all the Sn-In alloys/Ni couples reacted up to 8 h. At 240°C, Ni₂₈In₇₂ phase formed in the couples made with pure indium, In-10at.%Sn and In-11at.%Sn alloys, while Ni₃Sn₄ phase formed in the couples made of alloys with compositions varied from pure Sn to In-12at.%Sn. At 160°C, except in the In/Ni couple, Ni₃Sn₄ formed by interfacial reaction.     

Drainage and imbibition relative permeabilities at near miscible conditions

The changes in gas and oil relative permeabilities as miscibility is approached are of particular importance in multi-contact miscible displacements. These changes are a function of the detailed phase behaviour of the fluids and their physical properties as well as the properties of the porous medium itself.In this work, we investigate the behaviour of two-phase drainage and imbibition relative permeability curves of four, different, equilibrated fluid pairs from a three component, two-phase system (cyclohexene, isopropyl alcohol and water) that exhibits a critical point at ambient conditions. The tie-lines of these fluid pairs are at varying distances from the system's critical point. Equilibrium phase compositions and interfacial tensions (IFT) were determined for each of the four fluid pairs. Dynamic displacements were then performed in a linear two dimensional, bead-pack. Unsteady state, drainage and imbibition relative permeabilities were determined for the various pre-equilibrated mixtures. The experimental results show a clear change in relative permeability as the fluid pairs approach the critical point. As the interfacial tension decreases the non-wetting phase relative permeability increases more rapidly than the wetting phase relative permeability and hysteresis becomes less important.Two correlations [Coats, K.H., 1980. An equation of state compositional model: SPE J, 20 (5): 363-376.; Whitson, C.H., and Fevang, Ø., 1997. Generalized pseudo pressure well treatment in reservoir simulation. In Proc., IBC Conference on Optimization of Gas Condensate Fields.], commonly used to model the changes in relative permeability with interfacial tension, and the development of miscibility, were compared with the experimental data. The Coats correlation, which uses a single adjustable parameter to model the changes in both relative permeabilities and residual oil saturation as a direct function of the IFT, yielded an unacceptable match to the experimentally determined fractional flow. However the Whitson–Fevang correlation, which relates the changes in relative permeability to the capillary number using two adjustable weighting functions, presents a satisfactory match.     

The interfacial microstructure of joined single crystal and polycrystalline alumina

The interfacial microstructures of 96 and 98% polycrystalline alumina joined with single crystal sapphire have been investigated in relation to the joining parameters. Joining has been evaluated based on either using a thin spin-on silica interlayer or by placing the alumina and sapphire in direct contact. The materials were joined by placing the coated or uncoated surfaces in contact and heating in the range of 1340–1475 °C with minimum external load. With the aid of a silica interlayer, sapphire and 98% polycrystalline alumina were successfully joined in 180 min at 1400 °C and above, while samples without a silica interlayer failed to join under these conditions. However, sapphire and 96% polycrystalline alumina were joined both with and without the use of silica interlayer. A variety of interfacial morphologies have been observed, including amorphous regions, fine crystalline alumina, and intimate contact between the sapphire and polycrystalline alumina.     

Interfacial tension between coexisting polymer solutions in mixed solvents and its correlation with bulk thermodynamics: phase equilibria (liquid/gas and liquid/liquid) for the system toluene/ethanol/PDMS

Vapor pressures, phase equilibria and interfacial tensions σ were measured for solutions of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS, M_w[equals]75 kg/mol and M_n[equals]50 kg/mol) in mixed solvents of toluene (TL) and ethanol (EtOH) at 30, 40, 50 and 60 °C. The experimental ternary phase diagrams can be modeled quantitatively from the determined concentration and temperature dependent binary interaction parameters χ_ij if the experimentally inaccessible composition dependence of χ_EtOH/PDMS is adjusted. The relations between σ and the equation of state of the system differ from that applying to single solvents. The exponents as well as the amplitude prefactors of the corresponding scaling laws (e.g. the dependencies of σ on the length of the tie lines or on the hump energy, i.e. on the intrusion into the two phase regime quantified in terms of Gibbs energies) change considerably with temperature. However, this variation can be reduced significantly by normalizing the independent variables. Dividing the length of the tie lines by the length for the corresponding binary subsystem proves more efficient than the distance of these tie lines from the critical point of the ternary system relative to the maximum distance of the binary subsystem. A combined normalization does not improve the situation.     

MODELING LIQUID MASS TRANSFER IN HIGEE SEPARATION PROCESS

Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Professor Richard S.H. Mah. Hsien-Hsin Tung is now affiliated with Department of Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology

Penetration theory is used to describe the liquid mass transfer in Higee separation process. Within a possible range of effective areas, it is shown that the predicted mass transfer coefficients are in reasonable agreement with the estimated mass transfer coefficients. The estimated coefficients were calculated from the experimental data and the possible effective areas. Hence it is concluded the penetration theory is generally applicable to describe liquid mass transfer in Higee separation process. The comparison also suggests that liquid mixing at the junctions of packing materials may be more complete in Higee process than in traditional process.     

Polymer transcrystallinity induced by carbon nanotubes

In this work, we provide the evidence of polymer transcrystallinity in the presence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The interfacial morphology of carbon nanotube fiber-polypropylene matrix is investigated by means of polarized optical microscopy (POM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The supramolecular microstructures of polypropylene transcrystals induced by the nanotube fiber are observed in the range of isothermal crystallization temperatures from 118 °C to 132 °C. The dynamic process of transcrystallization is analyzed by using the theory of heterogeneous nucleation. Microstructure analysis shows that the nanotubes can nucleate the growth of both α- and γ-transcrystal, and α-transcrystals dominate the overall interfacial morphology. Close to the nanotube fiber surface, a cross-hatched lamellar microstructure composed of mother lamellae and daughter lamellae is observed.     

Mechanism of heat transport in nanofluids

We have calculated thermal conductivity of alumina nanofluids (with water and ethylene glycol as base fluids) using temperature as well as concentration-dependent viscosity, η. The temperature profile of η is obtained using Gaussian fit to the available experimental data. In the model, the interfacial resistance effects are incorporated through a phenomenological parameter α. The micro-convection of the alumina nanoparticle (diameter less than 100 nm) is included through Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. The model is further improved by explicitly incorporating the thermal conductivity of the nanolayer surrounding the nanoparticles. Using this improved model, thermal conductivity of copper nanofluid is calculated. These calculations capture the particle concentration-dependent thermal conductivity and predict the dependence of the thermal conductivity on the size of the nanoparticle. These studies are significant to understand the underlying processes of heat transport in nanofluids and are crucial to design superior coolants of next generation.     

二维轴对称折迭－组合腔CO2激光器失调时的输出光束的近场分析

给出平凹谐振腔和凹平凹谐振腔失调时光轴确定方法。在二维轴对称折迭－组合腔 激光器小角度失调运行时，对非相干并和和相干并和后的输出光束的近场强度分布做了分析和模拟。结果表明：小角度失调对4cm以内的近场影响不大，光强分布仍具有高斯状分布；对4cm以外的近场影响较大，光强分布发生相应的形变，且随着失调角度变大而变大。