Ultrasonic-emulsions and their flow properties in porous media

In waterfloods, the rapid channeling of water from injection to producing wells through the more permeable portions of the reservoir results in low oil recovery. On the fact of oil field development in the stage of high water-cut in some of the oil fields of China, emulsions for water-plugging were prepared using ultrasonic technique. The properties of the emulsions were measured and their flow properties in porous media were experimentally studied. Experiments show that ultrasonic-emulsion prepared can be an effective water-plugging agent with high stability and ultrasonic-emulsion slug can increase oil recovery in the stage of high water-cut. The work was supported by the Research Foundation of Petroleum University (East China).