Microfluidics for Measuring Mutual Properties of the CO2–Crude Oil System

Successful implementation of CO2 enhanced oil recovery critically relies on detailed measurements of CO2–oil properties at relevant reservoir conditions. In this work, a microfluidic platform was developed to quantify the comprehensive suite of mutual properties of a CO2 and crude oil mixture. The time-lapse oil swelling/extraction in response to CO2 exposure under step-wise increasing pressure was quantified via fluorescence microscopy, leveraging the inherent fluorescence property of the oil. The solubility and diffusion coefficient of CO2 in the crude oil as well as CO2–oil MMP were determined from the oil swelling/extraction data with measurements in strong agreement with previous results. In addition, the oil–CO2–silicon contact angle was measured, with contact angle increasing with pressure. In contrast with conventional methods which require days and ~500 mL fluid sample, this approach provides a comprehensive suite of measurements, 100-fold faster with less than 1 μL of sample.M.A.S.2020-11-15 00:00:0