Effects of Pressure and Oil Contamination on Drainage and Bubble Size Distribution of Aqueous Foams

Shah, Karan Dinesh

Effects of Pressure and Oil Contamination on Drainage and Bubble Size Distribution of Aqueous Foams

dc.contributor.advisor	Ahmed, Ramadan
dc.contributor.author	Shah, Karan Dinesh
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Karami, Hamidreza
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Teodoriu, Catalin
dc.date.accessioned	2022-05-06T14:04:54Z
dc.date.available	2022-05-06T14:04:54Z
dc.date.issued	2022-05-14
dc.date.manuscript	2022-04-26
dc.description.abstract	Foams exhibit valuable properties such as high viscosity, low density, and good cutting carrying capacity. However, they are thermodynamically unstable due to gravitational drainage, bubble coalescence, and coarsening. As a result, they lose these functional properties with time. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of pressure and contaminant oil on the stability of aqueous foams. In a flow loop with a vertical drainage measurement section, nitrogen foam was generated. Drainage experiments were conducted for different (40 - 60%) foam qualities while varying the pressure from 100 to 400 psi. Water with 2% anionic surfactant was used as the base liquid. Tests were also conducted at 10% v/v oil concentration to study the effect of contamination. The foam images were captured using a viewport at regular intervals to examine bubble structure and determine the bubble size distribution with time. At constant pressure, lower-quality aqueous foams drained faster than higher-quality aqueous foams without oil contamination. On the contrary, when 10% oil was added to the base liquid, 50% quality foam exhibited lower drainage than 40% and 60% quality foams. The stability of aqueous foams also improved considerably when the pressure was increased for each foam quality, regardless of the presence of oil. The data from image processing showed that as the pressure increases, the bubble size decreases at a constant foam quality. Besides this, bubble size approximately linearly increased with time, demonstrating bubble coalescence and coarsening. Furthermore, the size of the bubbles grew with foam quality. It can be concluded that the increase in pressure stabilizes the aqueous foam. At a given foam quality, the lower the bubble size more stable is the foam. Contaminants like oil affect the aqueous foam's stability and bubble size. This study helps understand the effect of pressure and oil contaminants on the stability of aqueous foam at different quality.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/11244/335558
dc.language	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Engineering, Petroleum.	en_US
dc.subject	Foams	en_US
dc.subject	Drainage	en_US
dc.subject	Under balanced drilling	en_US
dc.thesis.degree	Master of Science	en_US
dc.title	Effects of Pressure and Oil Contamination on Drainage and Bubble Size Distribution of Aqueous Foams	en_US
ou.group	Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy::Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering	en_US
shareok.orcid	0000-0002-8147-7972	en_US