Emulsion flow through a porous medium with allowance for interphase mass transfer between the components

A new model of the flow of two miscible, mutually-insoluble fluids in a porous medium with the formation of an emulsion and adsorption of the fluid components on the skeleton is proposed. The model takes into account the effect of interphase mass transfer on the emulsion dynamics and the active porosity. A continuous general solution of the one-dimensional model and the problem of breakdown of a discontinuity is constructed. The flow regimes generated in displacement problems which depend on the shape of the adsorption isotherms and the densities of the fluid components are considered. The time dependence of the production rate is constructed for frontal displacement regimes and for displacement regimes with the formation of a zone of mixing (Riemann wave) of the initial reservoir and injected fluids. These functions coincide, at least qualitatively, with the experimental data [1] indicating an initial increase in production rate even against a background of falling reservoir pressure, transition through a maximum, and subsequent decline. Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 77–88, January–February, 1997. The work was carried out with financial support from the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research (project No. 96-01-00991).