CO2-sensitive foams for mobility control and channeling blocking in enhanced WAG process

Mobility control is a key issue in gas and CO2 flooding process, and water-alternating-gas (CO2) injection (WAG) has been used in various field applications. The WAG process can be CO2 foam assisted in order to further improve the sweeping efficiency of the injectants. In this study, a novel foaming method for reducing CO2 mobility and blocking gas channeling is proposed, which is based on a CO2-sensitive chemical (compound with amine group) to generate foams or thicken the injected water in situ. The CO2-sensitive chemical is referred to that, in a reaction triggered by CO2, it can be converted to an effective surfactant or foam agent. The chemical can be dissolved in water and injected as a slug. In this study, the foaming behavior and the CO2-sensitivity of the chemical were tested using a visualization apparatus and a viscometer in the presence of CO2 and N-2. The capability of the foams generated using the CO2-sisentive chemical for mobility control was evaluated via gas flooding experiments of sand-packs. Stable CO2 foams have been obtained at high temperature and pressure conditions (up to 140 degrees C and 16 MPa), and high viscosity was observed in the chemical solution when CO2 was present in comparison with that of N-2, indicating the chemical's sensitivity with dissolved CO2 in water. In the sand-pack flooding experiments, a high resistance factor was achieved in a simulated WAG process using the CO2-sensitive chemical, which is attributed to the CO2 foams and viscous micelles generated in situ during CO2 injection. (C) 2015 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.