Intermittent and short duration ultrasound in a simulated porous medium

Abstract

Ultrasound is an unconventional method used to recovery oil, despite the report on the use of this technique, the focus has always been on the continuous application of ultrasound. But the continuous ultrasound has its own limitation of high cost of production and maintenance of equipment because of high energy generated. In this study, the use of short duration, intermittent ultrasound was investigated, and the result compared with the continuous ultrasound. The effect of viscosity and intensity on both intermittent and continuous ultrasound was also investigated. A 2D micro-model placed inside an ultrasonic bath under an ultrasound radiation was used, a stereo microscope with the camera mounted at the top of the micro-model recorded the displacement process. The snapshot of each time interval was used to give the estimate in percentage (%) of the residual oil left in the micro-model. The results show that, short duration and intermittent ultrasound can recover more oil compared with the application using continuous ultrasound and longer duration. Therefore, the use of intermittent ultrasound as a green and cost-effective technique is herein proposed.

Keywords

Ultrasonic / Intermittent ultrasound / Continuous ultrasound / Micro-model / Porous media / Enhanced oil recovery

Acknowledgements

The Authors would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Malaysia (R.J130000.7846.4F946), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), for supporting this research through Research Management Grant Vot. No. Q. J30000.2546.14H50.

References

[1] A. Mirzaei-Paiaman, M. Nourani, Positive effect of earthquake waves on well productivity: a case study: iranian carbonate gas condensate reservoir, Sci. Iran. C 19 (6) (2012) 1601-1607.

[2] R.D. Duhon, J. Campbell, The effect of ultrasonic energy on the flow of fluid in porous media, in: SPE 1316,in:The Annual Eastern Regional Meeting of SPE/AIM, Charleston, USA, 1965.

[3] H. Hamadi, A. Haddad, E. Mohammadian, R. Rafati, A. Azdarpour, P. Ghahri, P. Ombewa, T. Nuert, A. Zink, Ultrasonic-assisted CO₂ flooding to improve oil recovery, Ultrason. Sonochem. 2 (35) (2017) 243-250.

[4] G. Xiao, Z. Du, G. Li, Z. Shu, High frequency vibration enhancement technology in the heavy oil field of China. Paper SPE-86956, in: Presented at the SPE National Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium and Western Regional Meeting Held in Bakersfield, California, USA, 16e18 March, 2004.

[5] V. Abramov, M. Mullakaev, A. Abramova, I. Esipov, T. Mason, Ultrasonic technology for enhanced oil recovery from failing oil wells and the equipment for its implementation, Ultrason. Sonochem. 20 (2013) 1289-1295.

[6] E. Mohammadian, R. Junin, O. Rahmani, A.K. Idris, Effects of sonication radiation on oil recovery by ultrasonic waves stimulated water flooding, Ultrasonics 53 (2013) 607-614.

[7] H. Hamidi, E. Mohammadian, R. Rafati, A. Azdarpour, A role of ultrasonic wave on oil viscosity changes in porous media, in: IEEE Conference on Clean Energy and Technology, 2013.

[8] H. Hamidi, R. Rafati, R. Junin, A. Manan, A role of ultrasonic frequency and power on oil mobilization in under petroleum reservoir, J. Petrol Prod. Technol. 2 (2012) 29-36.

[9] E. Alhomadhli, M. Amro, M. Almobarky, Experimental application of ultrasound waves to improve oil recovery during water flooding, J. King Saud Univ. -Eng. Sci. 26 (2014) 103-110.

[10] K. Naderi, T. Babadagli, Influence of intensity and frequency of ultrasonic waves on capillary interaction and oil recovery from different rocks types, Ultrason. Sonochem. 17 (2010) 500-508.

[11] T. Hamida, T. Babadagli, Analysis of capillary interaction and oil recovery under ultrasonic waves, Transp. Porous Med. 70 (2007) 231-255.

[12] T. Hamida, T. Babadagli, Effects of ultrasonic waves on the interfacial forces between oil and water, Ultrason. Sonochem. 15 (2007) 274-278.

[13] H. Hamidi, E. Mohammadian, M. Assadullah, A. Azdarpour, R. Rafati, Effect of ultrasound radiation duration on emulsification and demulsificaion of paraffin oil and surfactant solution/brine using hele-shaw models, Ultrason. Sonochem. 26 (2015) 428-436.

[14] O. Behrend, K. Ax, H. Schubert, Influence of continuous phase viscosity on emulsification by ultrasound, Ultrason. Sonochem. 7 (1999) 77-85.

[15] X. Huang, S. Liang, Mechanism and experimental study of acoustic oil recovery, Acta Pet. Sin. 14 (1993) 110-116.

[16] Y. Xianghong, X. Zhang, Experiment of reduction viscosity by ultrasonic wave, Oil Gas Sur. Eng 15 (1996) 20-21.

[17] H. Hamidi, E. Mohammadian, R. Junin, R. Rafati, M. Manan, A. Azdarpour, M. Junid, A technique for evaluating the oil/heavy-oil viscosity changes under ultrasound in a simulated porous medium, Ultrasonics 56 (2014) 655-662.

[18] A.S. Chong, Micro-Model Investigation on Enhanced Oil Recovery Under Continuous and Intermittent Ultrasound (M.Eng Thesis), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 2013.

[19] M.F. Syamsul, Effect of Ultrasound on Oil Recovery (M.Eng. Thesis), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 2014.

[20] A.A. Agi, R. Junin, R. Shirazi, A. Gbadamosi, N. Yekeen, Comparative study of ultrasound assisted water and surfactant flooding, J. King Saud Univ. -Eng. Sci. (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksues.2018.01.002 (In Press).

[21] K. Naderi, T. Babadagli, Effect of ultrasonic intensity and frequency on oil/heavy -oil recovery from different wettability rocks. Paper SPE/PS/CHOA 117324, in: Presented at the SPE International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium Held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 20-23 October, 2008.

[22] E. Mohammadian, M. Shirazi, M. Parak, A. Idris, R. Junin, Improved oil recovery by application of stimulated water flooding, Jurnal Teknologi(Sains &Kej) Keluaran Khas 56 (1) (2011) 123-138.

[23] H. Hamidi, E. Mohammadian, R. Junin, R. Rafati, M. Manan, A. Azdarpour, M. Junid, R.M. Savory, The effect of ultrasonic waves on oil viscosity, Petrol. Sci. Technol. 32 (2014) 2387-2395.

[24] R.F. Ganiev, L.E. Ukrainskii, K.V. Frolov, Wave mechanism for the acceleration of a liquid flowing in capillaries and porous media, Soviet Phys.-Doklady 34 (1989) 267-283.

[25] T. Hamida, T. Babadagli, Effect of ultrasonic waves on the capillary-inhibition recovery of oil, in: Paper SPE-92124, Presented at the SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition Held in Jakarta, Indonesia, 5e7 April, 2005.

[26] I. Gulseren, D. Guzey, B.D. Bruce, J. Weiss, Structural and functional changes in ultrasonicated bovine serum albumin solutions, Ultrason. Sonochem. 14 (2) (2007) 173-183.