The role of porous media wettability on foamed gel propagation and fluid diverting performance

The influence of porous media wettability on foams is an important topic that is gaining much interest, and constitutes an issue of recent discussion since previous research has turned up discrepant results.; The purpose of this research is to study the flow properties of immature foamed gel in porous media. The objectives are: (1) determination of the influence of wettability on foamed gel propagation and fluid diverting performance, and (2) an assessment of low field NMR to track crosslinking reactions of polyacrylamide: Cr(III) acetate gels.; The first step of this dissertation considers two aspects: the evaluation of partially mature foamed gel propagation in etched-glass micromodels as well as in sand pack cells under different wetting preferences. The pore-scale evaluation was based on the direct observation of foamed gels flow properties in pore network models at different wettabilities. The displacement tests allowed the quantitative estimation of the effect of wettability on foamed gel performance in high permeability unconsolidated porous media. The second step of this research evaluated the relationship between NMR bulk relaxation rate (1/T2) and density of the crosslinks in polymer gels. Thus, experiments were based on monitoring the crosslinking kinetics and gel point using low field NMR.; Compelling evidence suggests that porous rock wettability affects the fluid diversion performance of foamed gels. The pore-level visualization study confirms previous findings on the occurrence of a supplementary mechanism of lamellae division. Additionally, the experimental results demonstrate the suitability of NMR bulk relaxation rate (1/T2) for tracking the crosslinking reaction of polymer gels.; The results of this study provide new and improved evidence on the propagation of immature foamed gel in porous media having different wetting preferences. Consequently, it may contribute to a better understanding of the complexities of foamed gel flow properties in oil and gas reservoirs. Furthermore, the accuracy and efficiency of the use of NMR to characterize crosslinking kinetics and gel strength might be of value to oil field operators.