Open Access

ARTICLE

Optimal Concentration of the Bubble Drainage Agent in Foam Drainage Gas Recovery Applications

by Shaopeng Liu¹, Guowei Wang^2,3,*, Pengfei Liu¹, Dong Ye¹, Jian Song¹, Xing Liu¹, Yang Cheng^2,3

1 Second Gas Production Plant of Qinghai Oilfield Branch, Jiuquan, 736202, China
2 School of Petroleum Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan, 430100, China
3 Petrochina Multiphase Flow Laboratory of Gas Lift Innovation Cente, Wuhan, 430100, China

* Corresponding Author: Guowei Wang. Email:

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2023, 19(12), 3045-3058. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2023.029810

Received 09 March 2023; Accepted 26 May 2023; Issue published 27 October 2023

Abstract

Foam drainage is the flow of liquid through the interstitial spaces between bubbles driven by capillarity and gravity and resisted by viscous damping. The so-called foam drainage gas recovery technology is a technique traditionally used to mitigate the serious bottom-hole liquid loading in the middle and late stages of gas well production. In this context, determining the optimal concentration of the bubble drainage agent is generally crucial for the proper application of this method. In this study, a combination of indoor experiments and theoretical analysis have been used to determine the pressure drop related to the foam-carrying capacity in a representative gas field. Dynamic and static experiments were designed with a bubble drainage agent concentration varying in the range 0.3%–0.6%. Using the field formation water data, the optimal soaking agent concentration was obtained and pressure drop test experiments on the foam carrying capacity were conducted accordingly. These tests have revealed that the optimal foam displacement agent concentration is 0.5%, and the foam quality at the optimum concentration is between 0.78–0.98. A theoretical method for calculating the pressure drop at the optimum soakaway concentration based on experimental data has also been introduced. The error of the proposed method is within 15% compared to the experimental measured value, demonstrating that it is highly accurate and simple.

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Keywords

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