Rheology and droplet size study of water-in-extra-heavy-oil emulsions: evaluation of effects of dissolved gas, water, pressure and temperature
Abstract
Available crude oil resources correspond mainly to heavy and extra-heavy crudes. In their production, these crudes can be transported as water-in-crude-oil emulsions, subjected to various temperature and pressure conditions, with droplets that may contain diluted gases. Hence, analyzing the influence of temperature, pressure, water content, and gas content (GOR) on the rheology and droplet size of water-in-crude-oil emulsions of a Colombian extra-heavy crude allows to estimate power consumption and potential net flows. Therefore, a composite-face-centered 24 factorial design of experiments was applied, using a capillary viscometer to measure shear stress, viscosity and pressure drop responses, as well as a light scattering laser analyzer to measure droplet size distribution. According to the results, the emulsions were stable at well operating levels specified for the variables temperature [150, 190] °F, pressure [1800, 3800] psi, brine content (W) [2, 30] %w and (GOR) [0, 120] ft3/bbl. Likewise, droplet size increase with GOR and/or W. The viscosity of the emulsions showed an increase with pressure and brine content. On the contrary, the viscosity of the emulsions reported a decrease with temperature, the GOR of the emulsions, and the flow rate of the test. Finally, the rheological behavior of the emulsions analyzed in this paper was determined to be pseudoplastic.
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