By Anastasiya Kiseleva

Abstract Several researchers have proposed that mobility control mechanisms can positively contribute to oil recovery in the case of emulsions generated in Enhanced-Oil Recovery (EOR) operations. Chemical EOR techniques that use alkaline components or/and surfactants are known to produce undesirable emulsions that create operational problems and are difficult to break.

Figure 1 is a cartoon of the evolution steps that emulsions typically follow toward phase separation: creaming or sedimentation, depending on the density contrast between the continuous and dispersed phases; (1) flocculation; (2) coalescence; (3) phase separation (4) /

Figure 2 illustrates the proposed improved recovery mechanism for heavy oil recovery based on alkaline floods.

Stabilizing Agents What Controls Emulsion Stability? Solid-Stabilized Emulsions: Pickering Emulsions Chemical flooding often requires injecting soft (low hardness or low divalent cation concentration) and fresh (low total dissolved solid, TDS, fraction) aqueous phase to enhanced polymer rheological behavior.

Organic Crude Oil Components Solubility classes, namely resulting from the application of a SARA (Saturated, Aromatic, Resins and Asphaltenes) analysis or variations of this technique is used to separate crude oil fractions to classify them. Additionally, the acid fraction of crude oils has been associated with emulsion stability through formation of complexes that adhere to interfaces. We highlight a few references that provide insight into stabilization mechanisms

KeywordsКлючевые слова emulsionsЭмульсии enhanced-oil recoveryВосстановление повышенной нефти low salinityНизкая соленость chemical floodingХимическая заводнение mobility controlКонтроль подвижности Alkaline componentsЩелочные компоненты SurfactantsПАВ

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