Dynamics of emulsion generation and stability during heavy oil displacement with chemicals and nanoparticles: Qualitative analysis using visual 2D data

There are a plethora of factors that may impact the viscous finger profiles observed in heavy oil-in-water emulsification in porous media such as chemical properties, chemical reaction, capillary number, mobility ratio, interfacial tension (IFT) gradient, chemical concentration, wettability, pH, and brine properties. To investigate such impact, we studied a large series of in-situ heavy oil-in-water emulsifications at various conditions using emulsifiers such as anionic surfactants, cationic surfactants, and NaOH (sodium hydroxide). For the stabilization of the emulsions formed with the emulsifiers, we tested nanofluids (silica, cellulose nanocrystal, zirconia, alumina) and polymers. 2-D visual results displayed that there exist finger profiles which strongly correlate with stable Winsor type 4 heavy oil-in-water emulsion generation along with semi-stable Winsor type 4 heavy oilin-water emulsification. By controlling the structure of emulsion droplets and correlating observed multiple finger interactions to the materials, we enable the selection of novel designs for effective heavy-oil recovery as well as corresponding displacement mechanisms.