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Rheology of Heavy-Oil Emulsions
Rheology of Heavy-Oil Emulsions
Hussein Alboudwarej, Moin Muhammad, and Ardi Shahraki, Schlumberger; Sheila Dubey and Loek Vreenegoor,
Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc.; and Jamal Saleh, Shell International E&P
=
⌬p
Q
冉 冊 r4
8L
=
⌬p
Q
k, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1)
Fig. 1—Stability of Oil A (STO) at 130°F. Fig. 2—Stability of Oil B (STO) at 130°F.
are very similar, and only the number frequency in the 50% water
cut is slightly higher. For Oil B, there is a slight shift in the droplet
size distribution of 50 and 60% emulsions compared to the 15%
emulsion. Comparing the 50 and 60% emulsions of Oil B, it seems
that 50% emulsion has a higher-number frequency of smaller drop-
lets, while the 60% emulsion has a higher number of larger drop-
lets. Note also that for 60% water cut, droplet size distribution
suggests the existence of another size mode, thus a near bimodal
distribution [e.g., partially unstable emulsions (Salager et al.
2000)]. The viscosity measurements for the same oil at 60% water
cut also shows a partially unstable system. Fig. 4—Photomicrographs of Oil A live emulsions (sample
flashed to ambient conditions).
Viscosity Measurements. The viscosities of the neat Oil A and
Oil B samples, together with their corresponding emulsions, were
determined using a capillary viscometer. Measured viscosities for
both dry Oil A and Oil B samples, at various pressures, are shown
in Fig. 8. Data follow an Arrhenius-type temperature trend, at least
for the measured range of temperature. Also, the neat oil viscosi-
ties decrease as the amount of solution gas increases with increas-
ing pressure. The viscosity of each sample was measured at least
at three different volumetric flow rates (shear rates), and the re-
ported viscosity values are the arithmetic average of measured
viscosities for each sample. There was no significant variation of
viscosity with shear rate. Tables 5 and 6 show the range of applied
shear rates (s−1) for each measured viscosity point. The standard
deviation of viscosity with shear rate varied between 0.1 and 1.4%
for Oil A and between 0.02 and 1.4% for Oil B. The overall
average standard deviations of measured viscosities over the range
of shear rate were 0.5 and 0.4% for Oil A and Oil B, respectively.
In all cases, reducing pressure below the bubblepoint (and sepa-
ration of lighter hydrocarbon components) increased the measured
viscosities for both neat oils and emulsions, as expected. At the
same time, an increase in water content of emulsions (up to and
near inversion point) increased the viscosities (Fig. 9). For the case
Fig. 5—Droplet size distribution of Oil A live emulsions (sample Fig. 6—Photomicrographs of Oil B live emulsions (sample
flashed to ambient conditions). flashed to ambient conditions).
Kokal, S. et al. 2002. Productivity Decline in Oil Wells Related to As- Appendix
phaltene Precipitation and Emulsion Blocks. Paper SPE 77767 pre- In the following equations, the relative viscosity is defined as:
sented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San
Antonio, Texas, 29 September–2 October. DOI: 10.2118/77767-MS.
r = , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (A-1)
Nunez, G.A., Sanchez, G., Gutierrez, X., Silva, F., Dalas, C., and Rivas, H. c
2000. Rheological behavior of concentrated bitumen in water emul-
sions. Langmuir 16 (16): 6497–6502. in which r is the relative viscosity, is the emulsion apparent
viscosity, and c is the continuous-phase viscosity.
Pal, R. 2001. Single-Parameter and Two-Parameter Rheological Equations
The celebrated Taylor equation for the relative viscosity of very
of State for Nondilute Emulsions. Industrial and Engineering Chem-
dilute emulsions of nearly spherical noncolloidal droplets is:
istry Research 40: 5666–5674.
Ronningsen, H.P. 1995. Correlations for Predicting Viscosity of W/O
Emulsions Based on North Sea Crude Oils. Paper SPE 28968 presented
at the SPE International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry, San An-
r = 1 + 冉 5K + 2
2K + 2 冊
, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (A-2)
tonio, Texas, 14–17 February. DOI: 10.2118/28968-MS. in which K is the viscosity ratio of dispersed phase to continuous
Salager, J-L., Marquez, L., Pena, A.A., Rondon, M., Silva, F., and Tyrode, phase, and is the dispersed-phase volume fraction.
E. 2000. Current Phenomenological Know-How and Modeling of Vand’s correlation is a theoretically based exponential function
Emulsion Inversion. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research in the form of
冉 冊
39: 2665–2676.
2.5
Singh, P., Thomason, W.H., Gharfeh, S., Nathanson, L.D., and Blumer, r = exp , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (A-3)
D.J. 2004. Flow Properties of Alaskan Heavy-Oil Emulsions. Paper 1 − 0.609
SPE 90627 presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and
in which is the volumetric concentration of dispersed phase.
Exhibition, Houston, 26–29 September. DOI: 10.2118/90627-MS.
Variations of Vand’s equation have been used. The most common
Szelag, H. and Pauzder, B. 2003. Rheological properties of emulsions modification is to replace 0.609 with a constant that can be deter-
stabilized by acylglycerol emulsifiers modified with sodium carboxy- mined by fitting experimental data.
lates. Colloids And Surfaces A—Physicochemical And Engineering As- Ronningsen correlation is represented as
pects 219 (1–3): 87–95.
Taylor, G.I. 1932. The Viscosity of Fluid Containing Small Drops of ln r = k1 + k2T + k3 + k4T, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (A-4)
Another Fluid. Proceedings of Royal Society A 138: 41–48.
Vand, V. 1948. Journal of Physics and Colloidal Chemistry 52: 217.
Yaron, I. and Gal-Or, B. 1972. On Viscous Flow and Effective Viscosity
of Concentrated Suspensions and Emulsions. Rheologica Acta 11:
241–252.