[pt] O uso de surfactantes zwitteriônicos em projetos de recuperação avançada de petróleo está limitado à adsorção na superfície da rocha-reservatório, que deve ser prevista para determinar a viabilidade econômica desses projetos. Porém, existe uma falta de modelos capazes de estimar essa adsorção e explicar os mecanismos envolvidos. O objetivo do trabalho foi providenciar modelos que pudessem estimar a adsorção de um surfactante zwitteriônico (CAPB), e explicar seus mecanismos de adsorção. Os experimentos foram realizados em rochas do tipo carbonato e arenito, através de testes com rocha particulada (estáticos) e no interior de núcleos de rocha (dinâmicos). Foi desenvolvida uma metodologia para quantificar o CAPB em salmoura utilizando a cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência. Como um diferencial, a adsorção foi normalizada pela área superficial específica da rocha, através de análise BET (testes estáticos) e microtomografia com (micro)CT-scan (testes dinâmicos). Os resultados foram interpretados com modelos empíricos e teóricos integrados às estimativas de potencial de superfície. Verificou-se para o carbonato, que a primeira camada de adsorção segue um padrão homogêneo, limitada por repulsão eletrostática com a superfície, enquanto a segunda camada segue uma adsorção heterogênea, onde são formados agregados de surfactante mediados por interações hidrofóbicas entre as caudas. Para o arenito, as duas camadas têm uma distribuição heterogênea, explicando a maior adsorção entre as duas rochas. Concluiu-se que os modelos de dupla camada são capazes de explicar e estimar a adsorção em condições de fluxo de forma confiável e a área superficial foi o fator mais relevante na diferença de adsorção dinâmica entre rochas, favorecida no arenito. / [en] The use of zwitterionic surfactants in enhanced oil recovery projects is limited to adsorption on the surface of the reservoir rock, which must be predicted to determine the economic feasibility of these projects. However, there is a lack of models capable of estimating this adsorption and explaining the involved mechanisms. The objective of this study was to provide models that could estimate the adsorption of a zwitterionic surfactant (CAPB) and explain its adsorption mechanisms. Experiments were conducted on carbonate and sandstone rocks using static tests with particulate rock and dynamic tests within rock cores. A methodology was developed to quantify CAPB in brine using high-performance liquid chromatography. As a distinguishing feature, the adsorption was normalized by the specific surface area of the rock, determined through BET analysis (static tests) and microtomography with (micro)CT-scan (dynamic tests). The results were interpreted with empirical and theoretical models integrated with surface potential estimates. For carbonate, it was observed that the first layer of adsorption follows a homogeneous pattern, limited by electrostatic repulsion with the surface, while the second layer follows heterogeneous adsorption, forming surfactant aggregates mediated by hydrophobic interactions between the tails. For sandstone, both layers exhibit a heterogeneous distribution, explaining the higher adsorption between the two rocks. It was concluded that bilayer models are capable of reliably explaining and estimating adsorption under flow conditions, and the surface area was the most relevant factor in the difference of dynamic adsorption between rocks, favored in sandstone.

Dans la première partie de cette thèse nous traitons l’écoulement diphasique compositionnel, partiellement miscible et compressible en milieux poreux. Déplacement d'une phase par un autre est analysé. Nous examinons les mélanges non idéals, la pression est variable, et les concentrations de phase, la densité et la viscosité sont les fonctions de la pression. Le processus est décrit par le problème de Riemann qui admet des solutions discontinues. Nous avons développé une méthode numérique-analytique de solution pour déterminer les paramètres à tous les chocs avant résoudre les équations de flux. Cette méthode est basée sur la séparation de thermodynamique et hydrodynamique, proposée dans [Oladyshkin, Panfilov 2006] et qui était inapplicable à problème de Riemann, en raison de manque des conditions d’Hugoniot. Dans cette thèse, nous avons construit les conditions supplémentaires d'Hugoniot. Dans la deuxième partie, nous examinons l'écoulement diphasique lors que les zones monophasique apparaissent, dans cette zone, le fluide est sur/sous-saturés et les équations diphasique dégénèrent.Nous avons proposé de décrire les zones diphasique et sur/sous-saturés avec un système uniforme des équations diphasique classique en étendant le concept de saturation d'être négatif et supérieur à un. Physiquement, cela signifie que les états monophasiques sont considérés comme des états diphasiques consistant une phase imaginaire avec la saturation négative. Une telle extension de la saturation exige développement des conditions de consistance qui sont fait dans cette thèse.La dernière partie est consacrée ensuite à étendre le modèle HT-split pour le cas d’écoulement triphasique compositionnel. Nous avons obtenu le modèle asymptotique, dans lequel la thermodynamique et l'hydrodynamique sont séparées / In the first part of thesis we deal with two-phase multicomponent, partially miscible, compressible flow in porous media. Displacement of one phase by another is analyzed. We examine non ideal solutions, pressure is variable, and phase compositions, densities and viscosities are variable functions of pressure.The process is described by Riemann problem which admits discontinuous solutions.We developed a numerical-analytical method of solution to explicitly determine all shock parameters before solving the flow equations. This method is based on splitting thermodynamics and hydrodynamics, suggested in [Oladyshkin, Panfilov 2006]. Earlier this method was inapplicable to Riemann problem, due to the lack of Hugoniot conditions. In this thesis we have constructed additional Hugoniot conditions.In the second part we examine two-phase flow when the single-phase zones appear, in this zone the fluid is over/under-saturated and two-phase flow equations degenerate and they cannot be used. We proposed to describe two-phase and over/under-saturated single-phase zones by uniform system of classic two-phase equations while extending the concept of phase saturation to be negative and higher than one. Physically it means that the oversaturated single-phase states are considered as pseudo two-phase states consisting an imaginary phase with negative saturation. Such an extension of saturation requires developing some consistence conditions which have developed in this thesis.The last part then is devoted to extend the HT-split model to the case of three-phase compositional flow. We have obtained the general asymptotic model, in which the thermodynamics and hydrodynamics are split

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:42:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ClaudiaASM.pdf: 1242411 bytes, checksum: c3160a204092117e2180c02e3fd1b0bc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-11-12 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Cutting fluids are lubricants used in metal-mechanical industries. Their complex composition varies according to the type of operation carried out, also depending on the metals under treatment or investigation. Due to the high amount of mineral oil produced in Northeastern Brazil, we have detected the need to better use this class of material. In this work, two novel formulations have been tested, both based on naphthenic mineral oil and additives, such as: an emulsifying agent (A), an anticorrosion agent (B), a biocide (C) and an antifoam agent (D). Each formulation was prepared by mixing the additives in the mineral oil at a 700-rpm stirring velocity for 10 min, at 25?C, employing a 24 factorial planning. The formulations were characterized by means of density, total acid number (TAN), viscosity, flash point and anticorrosion activity. In a subsequent study, oil-in-water emulsions were prepared from these novel formulations. The emulsions were analyzed in terms of stability, corrosion degree, percentage of foam formation, conductivity, accelerated stability and particle size. The samples were appropriately labeled, and, in special, two of them were selected for featuring emulsion properties which were closer to those of the standards chosen as references (commercial cutting oils). Investigations were undertaken on the ability of NaCl and CaCl2 to destabilize the emulsions, at concentrations of 2%, 5% and 10%, at an 800-rpm stirring velocity for 5 min and temperatures of 25?, 40?, 50? and 60?C. The recovered oils were chemically altered by reincorporating the same additives used in the original formulations, followed by preparation of emulsions with the same concentrations as those of the initial ones. The purpose was to assess the possibility of reusing the recovered oil. The effluents generated during the emulsion destabilization step were characterized via turbidity index, contents of oil and grease, pH, and contents of anions and cations, observing compliance with the parameters established by the current environmental legislation (Brazil s CONAMA 357/05 resolution). It could be concluded that the formulations presented excellent physicochemical properties as compared to commercial cutting fluids, showing that the quality of the newly-prepared fluids is superior to that of the formulations available in the market, enabling technically and environmentally-safe applications / Fluidos de corte s?o lubrificantes usados nas ind?strias metal-mec?nicas. Possuem composi??es complexas que variam de acordo com o tipo de opera??o executada e com os metais a serem trabalhados. Levando-se em conta a grande quantidade de ?leo mineral produzido na regi?o nordeste, verificou-se a necessidade de melhor aproveit?-los. Neste trabalho desenvolveram-se duas formula??es usando-se como base ?leo mineral naft?nico e aditivos, tais como: emulsificante (A), anticorrosivo (B), biocida (C) e antiespumante (D). Cada formula??o foi preparada com a mistura dos aditivos ao ?leo mineral, sob agita??o de 700 rpm por 10 min, a 25?C, utilizando-se um planejamento fatorial 24. As formula??es foram caracterizadas atrav?s da densidade, ?ndice de acidez, viscosidade, ponto de fulgor e corros?o. Em seguida foram preparadas emuls?es O/A obtidas a partir das novas formula??es. Destas emuls?es estudou-se a estabilidade, grau de corros?o, percentual de espuma formado, condutividade, estabilidade acelerada e tamanho de part?culas. Escolheram-se as amostras F8 e F16 por apresentarem as propriedades das emuls?es mais pr?ximas dos padr?es escolhidos como refer?ncia (fluidos de corte comerciais). Realizou-se o estudo da quebra das emuls?es utilizando o NaCl e o CaCl2 , nas concentra??es de 2%, 5% e 10%, com agita??o durante 5 min, ? velocidade de 800 rpm, nas temperaturas de 25?, 40?, 50? e 60?C. Os ?leos recuperados foram readitivados com os mesmos aditivos utilizados nas formula??es iniciais. Em seguida, prepararam-se emuls?es nas mesmas concentra??es das emuls?es iniciais com o intuito de verificar se o ?leo recuperado poderia ser reutilizado. Os efluentes gerados durante a quebra das emuls?es foram caracterizados atrav?s da turbidez, teor de ?leos e graxas, pH, ?nions e c?tions, verificando-se enquadramento dos par?metros avaliados na legisla??o ambiental em vigor (Resolu??o CONAMA 357/05). As formula??es apresentaram ?timas propriedades f?sico-qu?micas quando comparadas com os fluidos de corte comerciais, mostrando, dessa forma, que os fluidos obtidos s?o de qualidade superior aos encontrados no mercado e podem ser utilizados com seguran?a t?cnica e ambiental

CO2 sequestration is a promising strategy to reduce the emissions of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, to enhance hydrocarbon production, and/or to extract geothermal heat. The target formations can be deep saline aquifers, abandoned or depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, and/or coal bed seams or even deep oceanic waters. Thus, the potential formations for CO2 sequestration and EOR (enhanced oil recovery) projects can vary broadly in pressure and temperature conditions from deep and cold where CO2 can exist in a liquid state to shallow and warm where CO2 can exist in a gaseous state, and to deep and hot where CO2 can exist in a supercritical state. The injection, transport and displacement of CO2 in these formations involves the flow of CO2 in subsurface rocks which already contain water and/or oil, i.e. multiphase flow occurs. Deepening our understanding about multiphase flow characteristics will help us building models that can predict multiphase flow behaviour, designing sequestration and EOR programmes, and selecting appropriate formations for CO2 sequestration more accurately. However, multiphase flow in porous media is a complex process and mainly governed by the interfacial interactions between the injected CO2, formation water, and formation rock in host formation (e.g. interfacial tension, wettability, capillarity, and mass transfer across the interface), and by the capillary , viscous, buoyant, gravity, diffusive, and inertial forces; some of these forces can be neglected based on the rock-fluid properties and the configuration of the model investigated. The most influential forces are the capillary ones as they are responsible for the entrapment of about 70% of the total oil in place, which is left behind primary and secondary production processes. During CO2 injection in subsurface formations, at early stages, most of the injected CO2 (as a non-wetting phase) will displace the formation water/oil (as a wetting phase) in a drainage immiscible displacement. Later, the formation water/oil will push back the injected CO2 in an imbibition displacement. Generally, the main concern for most of the CO2 sequestration projects is the storage capacity and the security of the target formations, which directly influenced by the dynamic of CO2 flow within these formations. Any change in the state of the injected CO2 as well as the subsurface conditions (e.g. pressure, temperature, injection rate and its duration), properties of the injected and present fluids (e.g. brine composition and concentration, and viscosity and density), and properties of the rock formation (e.g. mineral composition, pore size distribution, porosity, permeability, and wettability) will have a direct impact on the interfacial interactions, capillary forces and viscous forces, which, in turn, will have a direct influence on the injection, displacement, migration, storage capacity and integrity of CO2. Nevertheless, despite their high importance, investigations have widely overlooked the impact of CO2 the phase as well as the operational conditions on multiphase characteristics during CO2 geo-sequestration and CO2 enhanced oil recovery processes. In this PhD project, unsteady-state drainage and imbibition investigations have been performed under a gaseous, liquid, or supercritical CO2 condition to evaluate the significance of the effects that a number of important parameters (namely CO2 phase, fluid pressure, temperature, salinity, and CO2 injection rate) can have on the multiphase flow characteristics (such as differential pressure profile, production profile, displacement efficiency, and endpoint CO2 effective (relative) permeability). The study sheds more light on the impact of capillary and viscous forces on multiphase flow characteristics and shows the conditions when capillary or viscous forces dominate the flow. Up to date, there has been no such experimental data presented in the literature on the potential effects of these parameters on the multiphase flow characteristics when CO2 is injected into a gaseous, liquid, or supercritical state. The first main part of this research deals with gaseous, liquid, and supercritical CO2- water/brine drainage displacements. These displacements have been conducted by injecting CO2 into a water or brine-saturated sandstone core sample under either a gaseous, liquid or supercritical state. The results reveal a moderate to considerable impact of the fluid pressure, temperature, salinity and injection rate on the differential pressure profile, production profile, displacement efficiency, and endpoint CO2 effective (relative) permeability). The results show that the extent and the trend of the impact depend significantly on the state of the injected CO2. For gaseous CO2-water drainage displacements, the results showed that the extent of the impact of the experimental temperature and CO2 injection rate on multiphase flow characteristics, i.e. the differential pressure profile, production profile (i.e. cumulative produced volumes), endpoint relative permeability of CO2 (KrCO2) and residual water saturation (Swr) is a function of the associated fluid pressure. This indicates that for formations where CO2 can exist in a gaseous state, fluid pressure has more influence on multiphase flow characteristics in comparison to other parameters investigated. Overall, the increase in fluid pressure (40-70 bar), temperature (29-45 °C), and CO2 injection rate (0.1-2 ml/min) caused an increase in the differential pressure. The increase in differential pressure with increasing fluid pressure and injection rate indicate that viscous forces dominate the multi-phase flow. Nevertheless, increasing the differential pressure with temperature indicates that capillary forces dominate the multi-phase flow as viscous forces are expected to decrease with this increasing temperature. Capillary forces have a direct impact on the entry pressure and capillary number. Therefore, reducing the impact of capillary forces with increasing pressure and injection rate can ease the upward migration of CO2 (thereby, affecting the storage capacity and integrity of the sequestered CO2) and enhance displacement efficiency. On the other hand, increasing the impact of the capillary force with increasing temperature can result in a more secure storage of CO2 and a reduction in the displacement efficiency. Nevertheless, the change in pressure and temperature can also have a direct impact on storage capacity and security of CO2 due to their impact on density and hence on buoyancy forces. Thus, in order to decide the extent of change in storage capacity and security of CO2 with the change in the above-investigated parameters, a qualitative study is required to determine the size of the change in both capillary forces and buoyancy forces. The data showed a significant influence of the capillary forces on the pressure and production profiles. The capillary forces produced high oscillations in the pressure and production profiles while the increase in viscous forces impeded the appearance of these oscillations. The appearance and frequency of these oscillations depend on the fluid pressure, temperature, and CO2 injection rate but to different extents. The appearance of the oscillations can increase CO2 residual saturation due to the re-imbibition process accompanied with these oscillations, thereby increasing storage capacity and integrity of the injected CO2. The differential pressure required to open the blocked flow channels during these oscillations can be useful in calculating the largest effective pore diameters and hence the sealing efficiency of the rock. Swr was in ranges of 0.38-0.42 while KrCO2 was found to be less than 0.25 under our experimental conditions. Increasing fluid pressure, temperature, and CO2 injection rate resulted in an increase in the KrCO2, displacement efficiency (i.e. a reduction in the Swr), and cumulative produced volumes. For liquid CO2-water drainage displacements, the increase in fluid pressure (60-70 bar), CO2 injection rate (0.4-1ml/min) and salinity (1% NaCl, 5% NaCl, and 1% CaCl2) generated an increase in the differential pressure; the highest increase occurred with increasing the injection rate and the lowest with increasing the salinity. On the other hand, on the whole, increasing temperature (20-29 °C) led to a reduction in the differential pressure apart from the gradual increase occurred at the end of flooding.

A 16×16×5.6 in. scaled, three-dimensional, physical model of a quarter of a 9-spot pattern was constructed to study the application of two processes designed to improve the efficiency of steam injection. The first process to be tested is the use of propane as a steam additive with the purpose of increasing recovery and accelerating oil production. The second process involves the use of a novel production configuration that makes use of a vertical injector and a smart horizontal producer in an attempt to mitigate the effects of steam override. The experimental model was scaled using the conditions in the San Ardo field in California and crude oil from the same field was used for the tests. Superheated steam at 190 – 200ºC was injected at 48 cm3/min (cold water equivalent) while maintaining the flowing pressures in the production wells at 50 psig. Liquid samples from each producer in the model were collected and treated to break emulsion and analyzed to determine water and oil volumes. Two different production configurations were tested: (1) a vertical well system with a vertical injector and three vertical producers and (2) a vertical injector-smart horizontal well system that consisted of a vertical injector and a smart horizontal producer divided into three sections. Runs were conducted using pure steam injection and steam-propane injection in the two well configurations. Experimental results indicated the following. First, for the vertical configuration, the addition of propane accelerated oil production by 53% and increased ultimate recovery by an additional 7% of the original oil in place when compared to pure steam injection. Second, the implementation of the smart horizontal system increased ultimate oil recovery when compared to the recovery obtained by employing the conventional vertical well system (49% versus 42% of the OOIP).

The low salinity water injection technique (LSWI) has become one of the important research topics in the oil industry because of its possible advantages for improving oil recovery. Several mechanisms describing the LSWI process have been suggested in the literature; however, there is no consensus on a single main mechanism for the low salinity effect on oil recovery. As a result of the latter, there are few models for LSWI and especially for carbonates due to their heterogeneity and complexity. In this research, we proposed a systematic approach for modeling the LSWI effect on oil recovery from carbonates by proposing six different methods for history matching and three different LSWI models for the UTCHEM simulator, empirical, fundamental, and mechanistic LSWI models. The empirical LSWI model uses contact angle measurements and injected water salinity. The fundamental LSWI model captures the effect of LSWI through the trapping number. In the mechanistic LSWI model, we include the effect of different geochemical reactions through Gibbs free energy. Moreover, field-scale predictions of LSWI were performed and followed by a sensitivity analysis for the most influential design parameters using design of experiment (DoE). The LSWI technique was also optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM) where a response surface was built. Also, we moved a step further by investigating the combined effect of injecting low salinity water and carbon dioxide on oil recovery from carbonates through modeling of the process and numerical simulations using the UTCOMP simulator. The analysis showed that CO₂ is the main controller of the residual oil saturation whereas the low salinity water boosts the oil production rate by increasing the oil relative permeability through wettability alteration towards a more water-wet state. In addition, geochemical modeling of LSWI only and the combined effect of LSWI and CO₂ were performed using both UTCHEM and PHREEQC upon which the geochemical model in UTCHEM was modified and validated against PHREEQC. Based on the geochemical interpretation of the LSWI technique, we believe that wettability alteration is the main contributor to the LSWI effect on oil recovery from carbonates by anhydrite dissolution and surface charge change through pH exceeding the point of zero charge. / text

The overall objective of this research was to gain an insight into the challenges encountered during chemical flooding under high hardness conditions. Different aspects of this problem were studied using a combination of laboratory experiments and simulation studies. Chemical Flooding is an important Enhanced Oil Recovery process. One of the major components of the operational expenses of any chemical flooding project, especially Alkali Surfactant Polymer (ASP) flooding is the cost of softening the injection brine to prevent the precipitation of the carbonates of the calcium and magnesium ions which are invariably present in the formation brine. Novel hardness tolerant alkalis like sodium metaborate have been shown to perform well with brines of high salinity and hardness, thereby eliminating the need to soften the injection brine. The first part of this research was aimed at designing an optimal chemical flooding formulation for a reservoir having hard formation brine. Sodium metaborate was used as the alkali in the formulation with the hard brine. Under the experimental conditions, sodium metaborate was found to be inadequate in preventing precipitation in the ASP slug. Factors affecting the ability of sodium metaborate to sequester divalent ions, including its potential limitations under the experimental conditions were studied. The second part of this research studied the factors affecting the ability of novel alkali and chelating agents like sodium metaborate and tetrasodium EDTA to sequester divalent ions. Recent studies have shown that both these chemicals showed good performance in sequestering divalent ions under high hardness conditions. A study of the geochemical species in solution under different conditions was done using the computer program PHREEQC. Sensitivity studies about the effect of the presence of different solution species on the performance of these alkalis were done. The third part of this research focused on field scale mechanistic simulation studies of geochemical scaling during ASP flooding. This is one of the major challenges faced by the oil and gas industry and has been found to occur when sodium carbonate is used as the alkali and the formation brine present in situ has a sufficiently high hardness content. The multicomponent and multiphase compositional chemical flooding simulator, UTCHEM was used to determine the quantity and composition of the scales formed in the reservoir as well as the injection and production wells. Reactions occurring between the injected fluids, in situ fluids and the reservoir rocks were taken into consideration for this study. Sensitivity studies of the effect of key reservoir and process parameters like the physical dispersion and the alkali concentration on the extent of scaling were also done as a part of this study. / text

Submitted by Johnny Rodrigues (johnnyrodrigues@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-03-14T22:16:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 HELTON GOMES ALVES - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGEQ 2017..pdf: 6048381 bytes, checksum: 85c4b2fa7101540817c1a7f535cd9477 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-14T22:16:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 HELTON GOMES ALVES - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGEQ 2017..pdf: 6048381 bytes, checksum: 85c4b2fa7101540817c1a7f535cd9477 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-01 / Capes / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo dar uma contribuição na compreensão dos fenômenos envolvidos na recuperação de óleos com diferentes viscosidades através de poços produtores horizontais na presença e ausência de uma falha geológica via injeção de água. Para resolver as equações de conservação de massa e momento linear generalizadas a Lei de Darcy, foi utilizado o Ansys CFX 15.1 adotando o modelo de mistura de fluidos contínuos (água/óleo) em fluxo transiente e regime laminar. Mediante teste de malha, realizado segundo o princípio da superposição das curvas de perfil de fração volumétrica e velocidade superficial média da água, foi escolhido a malha estruturada com 603588 elementos hexaédricos por apresentar menor esforço computacional. Entretanto, através da comparação da recuperação de óleo com diferentes viscosidades foi possível constatar que a recuperação do óleo menos viscoso se apresentou mais eficiente. Contudo, segundo a análise da influência da altura do poço injetor, a configuração que apresentou uma maior área de varrido foi com a maior área de injeção. E através das distribuições em diferentes posições longitudinais de fração volumétrica de água, gradientes de pressão, velocidade superficial da água e do óleo, foi possível perceber a presença da falha geológica no reservatório, bem como a influência da variação da sua permeabilidade. / The present work aims to contribute to the understanding of the involved phenomena in the recovery of oils with different viscosities through horizontal wells in the presence and absence of a geological fault via water injection. In order to solve the mass conservation and generalized linear momentum equations of Darcy's law, Ansys CFX 15.1 has been used and it was supported by the continuous fluids mixture model (water/oil) in transient flow and laminar regime. Through mesh test, which was performed according to the principle of superposition of the volumetric fraction profile and the average surface velocity of the water, a structured mesh with 603588 hexahedral elements was chosen because of the lower computational effort. However, by comparing the recovery of oil with different viscosities, it was possible to verify that the recovery of less viscous oil was more efficient. In addition, according to the analysis of the influence of the height of the injector well, the configuration that presented a larger awept área was the one with a greater area of injection. Thus, through the distributions in different longitudinal positions of volumetric fraction of the water, pressure gradients, surface velocity of the water and the oil, it was possible to realize the presence of the geological fault in the reservoir, as well as the influence of the variation of its permeability.

Depuis les années 60, la mousse présente un grand potentiel pour améliorer le balayage volumétrique par le gaz dans un réservoir pétrolier : des travaux de laboratoire et des essais sur champs montrent l’intérêt technique et économique de ce procédé. En effet, ses caractéristiques uniques, qui résultent de la dispersion du gaz dans un volume de liquide contenant des tensioactifs, en font un bon agent de réduction de mobilité du gaz, et par conséquent, ce qui conduit à la réduction des instabilités visqueuses issues du contraste de mobilité entre le gaz et l'huile en place. Par ailleurs, la mousse atténue les effets préjudiciables des hétérogénéités et de la ségrégation gravitaire sur la récupération, grâce à son comportement différent entres les faciès du réservoir. Dans la pratique industrielle, les simulateurs de réservoir s’attachent à ne modéliser que les effets de la mousse sur les déplacements en régime permanent, sans chercher à prédire son comportement dynamique régi par la génération, destruction et transport des lamelles (films minces) de mousse dans les milieux poreux. Suivant cette approche, la mousse est modélisée comme une réduction de mobilité du gaz, en particulier par le biais des perméabilités relatives, en utilisant des lois d'interpolations de paramètres impactant sa rhéologie, à savoir la vitesse et la qualité de la mousse, la saturation en huile, la concentration en tensioactif et la perméabilité du milieu poreux. Un tel modèle a l’avantage de la simplicité conceptuelle fondée sur l'extension des modèles de Darcy polyphasiques en n’utilisant que les paramètres d'écoulement mesurés au laboratoire, sans y intégrer le nouveau paramètre caractéristique de la mousse qui est la texture (densité des lamelles). Cependant, ces lois empiriques manquent de généralité et doivent être calibrées/ajustées à partir d’essais de laboratoire afin d'assurer la fiabilité des prévisions. Un modèle calibré à partir d’un nombre limité d’expériences comporte un degré d'incertitude et d’indétermination. L’ingénieur de réservoir a néanmoins recours à un tel modèle pour prédire et guider l’exploitation du gisement sur la base de ce procédé. D’où l’objectif principal de cette thèse qui consiste à améliorer le paramétrage des modèles de mousse empiriques via des lois mieux formulées et calibrées afin d’accroitre leur prédictivité. Dans cette thèse, nous avons établi les fondements physiques nécessaires pour valider les modèles empiriques en développant leur équivalence avec les modèles en texture assurée par des relations d’interdépendance entre les paramètres des deux approches. Cette équivalence a été montrée et étudiée en utilisant un modèle à lamelles pré-calibré de la littérature aux mesures de déplacements de mousse en régime permanent. Par ailleurs, ce parallèle avec les modèles en texture nous a permis de mettre au point une nouvelle procédure pour calibrer d'une manière fiable et déterministe les modèles empiriques. Cette procédure a été testée à partir des résultats d'expériences menées à IFPEN traduits en termes de texture en régime permanent. Enfin, nous avons proposé et interprété des lois d'échelle des paramètres du modèle de mousse en fonction de la perméabilité du milieu poreux, en analysant les paramètres des modèles calibrés sur des carottes de différentes perméabilités. L'importance de ces lois a été mise en évidence à travers des simulations sur une coupe de réservoir bi-couche. Les résultats de la simulation indiquent que les prévisions de performance d'un procédé à base de mousse, appliqué à un réservoir hétérogène, nécessitent une bonne connaissance des lois d'échelle des paramètres empiriques avec la perméabilité. / Conventional techniques of oil recovery consist in injecting water and/or gas into the geological formation to force out the oil. These methods may reveal ineffective because of high permeability contrasts, unfavorable mobility ratio between the driving fluid and the oil in place which generally generates viscous fingering, and gravity segregation. In this context, foam has shown a great potential to overcome all these detrimental effects, and thereafter, to improve the volumetric sweep efficiency. Still some key points need to be addressed regarding the predictive calculation of multiphase foam flow in porous media. Methods for modeling foam flow in porous media fall into two categories: population balance (PB) models and (semi)-empirical (SE) models. On the one hand, PB models describe foam lamellas transport in porous media and predict the evolution of foam microstructure as the result of pore-scale mechanisms of lamellas generation and destruction. Within this framework, the modeling of foam effects on gas mobility is directly related to foam texture (lamellas density) along with the effects of other parameters impacting its rheology such as foam quality and velocity, permeability of the porous media, surfactant concentration, etc. On the other hand, SE models are based on the extension of multiphase classical Darcy's model to describe foam flow in porous media, such that the foam texture effects are described indirectly through a multi-parameter interpolation function of parameters measured/observed in laboratory. Such formulation has to be calibrated from foam flow experimental data on a case-by-case basis, which can turn to be a cumbersome task. Furthermore, SE models involve uncertainty because they are not based on mechanistic laws driving lamellas transport in porous media, and their predictive capacity remains low as too few laboratory data are generally available for their calibration. Nonetheless, the reservoir engineer needs a reliable foam model in order to design, assess and optimize foam enhanced oil recovery processes for field application. Accordingly, this thesis aims at providing further insights into the topics related to the parameterization of (semi)-empirical models through better formulated and calibrated laws in order to improve their predictivity. In this work, we have established the physical basis necessary to validate the (semi)-empirical models. Indeed, we developed the equivalence between SE and PB models achieved through relationships between the parameters of these two modeling approaches (industrial and physical). The equivalence has been established and studied using a pre-calibrated PB model of the literature to fit steady-state foam measurements. In addition, this equivalence allowed us to develop a new procedure to calibrate the (semi)-empirical models in a reliable and deterministic way. This procedure was tested and validated using results from IFPEN core-flood experiments by translating them into steady-state texture measurements. Finally, we proposed scaling laws for empirical model parameters with the permeability of the porous media, by analyzing the fitted parameters on cores of different permeabilities. Different interpretations of the scaling laws are herein provided using theoretical models for lamellas stability. Then, their importance has been demonstrated through simulations on a two layer reservoir cross-section. The simulation results indicate that the predictions of foam flow in a heterogeneous reservoir require a good knowledge of the scaling laws of SE model parameters with permeability.

[pt] Na indústria do petróleo estudam-se os chamados métodos de recuperação melhorada de óleo, que visam melhorar a varredura macroscópica do reservatório e reduzir a saturação de óleo residual nas regiões varridas pela injeção da fase aquosa. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo fundamental do processo de injeção de emulsões óleo-água como método de recuperação melhorada. O meio poroso utilizado nos estudos foi um empacotamento de esferas de vidro. O meio poroso foi inicialmente saturado com óleo. O deslocamento de óleo foi realizado através da injeção sequencial de água, emulsão e água. Microtomografia de raios-X foi utilizada para determinar a distribuição das fases aquosas e oleosas ao final de cada etapa do processo de injeção. Processamento das imagens 3D obtidas permitiram a quantificação do efeito da injeção de emulsão no desvio do caminho preferencial da fase aquosa e na distribuição e tamanho de gânglios de óleo residual, gerando recuperações incrementais com relação a injeção de água. / [en] In the oil industry, the so-called enhanced oil recovery methods are studied, which aim to improve the macroscopic scanning of the reservoir and reduce the residual oil saturation in the regions swept by the injection of the aqueous phase. This work presents a fundamental study of the process of injection of oil-water emulsions as an improved recovery method. The porous medium used in the studies was a glass bead packaging. The porous medium was initially saturated with oil. The oil displacement was performed through the sequential injection of water, emulsion and water. X-ray microtomography was used to determine the distribution of the aqueous and oily phases at the end of each step of the injection process. Processing of the 3D images obtained allowed the quantification of the effect of emulsion injection on the deviation of the preferred path of the aqueous phase and the distribution and size of residual oil ganglia, generating incremental recoveries in relation to a water injection.