Chemical EOR: Oil-Water Interface

1. How exactly does the transportation of heavy crude oil become complex, upon the formation of an interfacial film that exhibits mechanical-rigidity/viscoelasticity?

2. If such formations of highly stable water-in-petroleum emulsions remain associated with different thixotropic effects, then, the rheological behavior (changes in film properties) associated with the interfacial activity of naphthenic/asphaltic sub-fractions of crude-oil deserve a special attention?

Feasible to capture the way, the asphaltenes influence the interfacial reorganization (the way the elastic storage modulus for asphaltenic interfacial films evolve), upon adsorption onto an oil-water interface?

At the laboratory-scale, how easy would it remain to capture the enhancement in film shear elasticity (in the absence of any further interfacial material), which leads to a gentle interfacial reorganization (or consolidation)?

3. Among (a) Bi-conical Bob Interfacial Shear Rheometer; (b) Dynamic drop tensiometer; and (c) Oscillating drop tensiometer, - which one of them would remain associated with the least mass transfer limitations – in the context of investigating dilatational rheology (that clearly distinguishes interfacial diffusion from that of bulk-to-surface diffusion)?

4. Can we precisely measure both interfacial shear (that equates to two-dimensional rotational bulk shear); and interfacial dilation (that equates to two-dimensional bulk elongational method) @ lab-scale, precisely?

How precisely will we be able to capture the change in shape of the interface as it gets sheared – associated with the interfacial shear rheology? So easy to measure the mechanical strength of the adsorbed layer?

OR

Measurement of change in interfacial tension due to a specific change in interfacial area (associated with interfacial dilational rheology) would remain to be more reliable?

Feasible to monitor these details @ field-scale?

5. At the laboratory-scale, during the stabilization of the surfaces of emulsion droplets by surfactants, would it remain feasible to capture, the way, the surfactants drag a layer of liquid with them into the gaps between droplets, which in turn, acts as a lubricant and subsequently prevent coalescence (Gibbs/Marangoni theory)? What is its relevance at the field-scale?

6. Does rheometer require any correction for friction (over its stress control during oscillation), although, it is supposed to use a virtually frictionless suspension mechanism? In turn, as against the measurements under Normalized Resonance mode (frequency > 2 Hz), whether, the Controlled-Stress mode (frequency < 2 Hz) measurements on recoverable energy component and low energy component, would remain to be precise?

Suresh Kumar Govindarajan

Professor (HAG)

IIT Madras

https://home.iitm.ac.in/gskumar/

https://iitm.irins.org/profile/61643

26-Aug-2024