A study of three-phase relative permeabilities and dispersivities under carbon dioxide flooding conditions in a heterogeneous carbonate core

In a carbon dioxide reservoir flood, a knowledge of the recovery mechanism and the ability to accurately predict the constitutive properties governing the process are necessary for the proper design and implementation of the project. The relative permeability relationships which control multiphase fluid flow and the mixing phenomena which occur during multiphase miscible displacement are among the many factors to be considered in such an operation. Presented here are the results of a study of the relative permeabilities and mixing phenomena which were measured in steady-state, high-temperature, high-pressure, gas-oil-brine three-phase flow experiments conducted in a carbonate core under carbon dioxide flooding conditions.;The laboratory measurements of three-phase ;During each steady-state flow experiment, nonreactive tracers were injected into each flowing phase. Moment analysis of the tracer response data was used to directly calculate the saturation of each phase. A finite-difference simulator was used to estimate the mixing parameters of convection-dispersion-capacitance flow model.