Application of a Novel Ultrasonic Technology to Improve Oil Recovery with an Environmental Viewpoint

It is proven by recent studies that sonication has a positive influence over the oil flow within the porous media. Accordingly, the researchers in this paper evaluated the influence of sonication over the oil recovery by means of free fall gravity drainage. Furthermore, the influence of sonication on the oil permeability was assessed in three samples that had different bead size in average. By use of the Hagroot backward method and Matlab simulation, the optimal petrophysical situation for sonication was determined. The authors concluded that sonication positively affects the oil recovery for the non-asphaltenic samples, while it has a reverse effect on the asphaltenic samples because of increasing the viscosity in long-term. Furthermore, it was witnessed that gravity drainage was heightened by increase of beads’ size in the non-asphaltenic sample. Accordingly, this mechanism can be useful in oil recovery by means of gravity drainage, specifically in fracture reservoirs.