Injection of emulsions into cores packed with Ottawa sand and Berea sandstone as a method for enhanced oil recovery

Two oil-in-water emulsion systems with drop size less than 6 µm were evaluated to be used as part of an enhanced oil recovery method. Oil recovery tests were run through a forced imbibition study simulating secondary and tertiary oil recovery processes in porous media such as packed cells with Ottawa sand and Berea sandstone cores. The results show that the emulsions exhibited higher recovery percentage in Berea sandstone than the one obtained with Ottawa-sand-packed cores. Crude-oil-based emulsion showed recovery efficiency above 18.1 % in Berea sandstone at a flow rate of 0.16 mL/min at 78 ºC.

Keywords: EOR, Emulsion flooding, Packed cell, Sandstone core.