Quantification of microemulsion systems using low-field T₁-weighted imaging.

Area of Science:

• Petroleum Engineering
• Physical Chemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Microemulsions are crucial for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), aiding crude oil extraction from reservoirs.
• Current quantification methods for microemulsion model systems are often destructive, time-consuming, and unsuitable for complex or opaque crude oils.
• The representativity of simplified model systems for EOR is questioned due to neglected kinetics and crude oil complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a non-destructive, quantitative method for analyzing microemulsion composition.
• To assess the kinetic aspects and representativity of microemulsion model systems for EOR.
• To provide a tool for understanding the behavior of co-surfactant, oil, and brine in Winsor microemulsions.

Main Methods:

• High-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (NMR) technique.
• Analysis of 1D composition profiles (co-surfactant, oil, brine) in Winsor I, III, and II microemulsions.
• Correlation of NMR results with X-Ray Micro-CT experiments for validation.

Main Results:

• The developed NMR method provides quantitative, non-destructive 1D composition profiles of microemulsion components.
• Results were validated against X-Ray Micro-CT, demonstrating method accuracy.
• Conditions for the NMR method's validity and potential limitations were established.

Conclusions:

• The proposed NMR imaging technique offers a significant advancement for characterizing microemulsions in EOR research.
• This method enhances the representativity of model systems by providing kinetic and compositional insights.
• The technique holds potential for broader applications involving similar microemulsion systems.