Experimental and population balance model interpretation of foam physics in porous media

Foam has been used as an effective displacing fluid for gas mobility control in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and subsurface remediation. In this study, a series of core flooding experiments are performed on cores with wide permeability ranging from 3.3 to 2749 mD evaluate the impact foam quality performance. It is found that steady-state factor related non-linear, non-monotonic manner. A full physics, mechanistic model proposed by incorporating novel flowing fraction relation grounded-up pore-level observations, new kinetic expression coalescence rate based pinch-off rupture mechanism into population-balance framework Almajid et al. (Advances Water Resources, 2021, 150: 103877). The applied match flow experimental results absence presence oil. Results show our captures high-quality low-quality regimes observed previous oil-free experiments. Within medium range, oil, lower due faster film thinning at higher capillary pressure, while residual difference fades away insignificant pressure stability pseudoemulsion films.