Surfactant-assisted CO/N-based CSI (SA CO/N-CSI) process emerges as a strategic solution to migrate the high energy consumption and carbon intensity associated with traditional thermal operations for heavy oil recovery. However, the interphase mass transfer makes the emulsification behavior in this process complex. In this study, the effect of in-situ emulsification on CO/N-CSI is assessed using a sandpack model and microchannel chip. Mesoscopically, SA CO/N-CSI outperforms conventional CO/N-CSI in terms of both oil recovery and CO storage, owing to the enhanced CO diffusion, oil solubilization, and foamy oil stability due to emulsification. Microscopically, the impact of emulsifier injection rate on oil removal efficiency in the dead-end pores becomes negligible when the injection rate exceeds 50 nL/min, providing insights to the emulsification mechanisms underlying the optimal pressure depletion rate (9 kPa/min) in SA CO/N-CSI. This study demonstrates the applicability of the SA CO/N-CSI in fostering sustainable heavy oil production and CO storage.

中文翻译：

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原位乳化对基于 CO2/N2 的循环溶剂注入工艺提高稠油采收率和 CO2 封存的影响


表面活性剂辅助的基于 CO/N 的 CSI (SA CO/N-CSI) 工艺作为一种战略解决方案而出现，旨在消除与重油采收的传统热力操作相关的高能耗和碳强度。然而，相间传质使得该过程中的乳化行为变得复杂。在本研究中，使用沙堆模型和微通道芯片评估了原位乳化对 CO/N-CSI 的影响。从细观上看，SA CO/N-CSI 在石油采收率和 CO 储存方面均优于传统 CO/N-CSI，因为乳化作用增强了 CO 扩散、油溶解和泡沫油稳定性。从微观上看，当注入速率超过 50 nL/min 时，乳化剂注入速率对死端孔隙除油效率的影响可以忽略不计，这为了解 SA 中最佳压力消耗速率 (9 kPa/min) 的乳化机制提供了见解CO/N-CSI。这项研究证明了 SA CO/N-CSI 在促进可持续重油生产和二氧化碳封存方面的适用性。