Low-cost pyrophyllite-based microfluidic device for the study of enhanced oil recovery

Micro & nano letters

article

Kexin Gao¹  Rubing Cui¹  Yiqiang Fan¹  Xuance Zhou²  Yajun Zhang¹ 

[1] School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology;Arevo Inc.

关键词: microfluidics;    polymers;    surfactants;    porous materials;    hydrocarbon reservoirs;    drops;    bonding processes;    oil technology;    corrosion resistance;    quartz;    milling;    flow through porous media;    surfactant flooding;    polymer-based;    microfluidic devices;    displacement study;    oil recovery process;    EOR study;    EOR research;    fabrication protocols;    low-cost pyrophyllite-based microfluidic device;    enhanced oil recovery;    good heat resistance;    corrosion resistance;    similar molecular structure;    pyrophyllite substrate;    micromilling method;    water flooding;   

DOI  :  10.1049/mnl.2019.0322

学科分类：计算机科学（综合）

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

This work proposed a novel method for the fabrication of pyrophyllite-based microfluidic devices for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Pyrophyllite has good heat resistance, corrosion resistance and similar molecular structure to quartz sandstone, and is suitable for EOR research. A rectangular matrix of the pore structure is designed, representing an idealised porous medium and then fabricated on the surface of pyrophyllite substrate by using the micro-milling method. Finally, a layer of sealing film was applied on the surface of substrate to finish the bonding process. A droplet generator was also fabricated for the demonstration of the proposed technology. A series of displacement experiments with water flooding and surfactant flooding were conducted and the result was carefully analysed and discussed. Compared with the previous study using polymer-based or glass-based microfluidic devices as micromodels for the displacement study in oil recovery process, the surface properties of pyrophyllite are more close to real reservoirs and have compelling advantages as bulk material for microfluidic devices for the EOR study. This work has wide potential applications as the micromodels in EOR research, the proposed fabrication protocols of the pyrophyllite-based microfluidic device are rapid and low-cost, the on-site field test could also be conducted with the proposed technology.

【 授权许可】

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