One-atmosphere foaming test

Cell size and uniformity are also important variables when studying foams. However, space limitations preclude discussions of these variables herein. Other surfactant properties critical to the success of an EOR process are surfactant adsorption and thermal stability. These questions, under study in our laboratory, are not considered in the short-term one atmosphere foam test experiment and therefore will not be discussed herein. 

Unlike previous one atmosphere foam test designs, the present test permits the effect of the oil phase on surfactant foaming properties to be determined. Refined hydrocarbons were used as model oil phases. Results summarized in Tables I and Figure 3 indicated that the presence of hydrocarbons decreased the foam stability. Examination of Table I indicated that the presence of a hydrocarbon substantially reduced the 75 C foam volumes produced by AES and AESo surfactants. 

The authors wish to acknowledge the important contributions of David Haseltine, Craig Yates and Tanya Balthazar who performed many of the one atmosphere foaming experiments and of Eugene F. Lutz, J. Dan Paiz and T. A. B. M. Bolsman who synthesized some of the test surfactants. The authors would like to thank Shell Development Company for permission to publish this work. 

However, there are potential objections to the use of a one atmosphere foaming experiment. These must be considered to determine the relevance of these experiments to surfactant performance in a formation. Bikerman has stated that in one atmosphere experiments the height and volume of the foam obtained depend on the details of the shaking procedure...and thus cannot be used to characterize the foaminess of a liquid in a (reasonably) absolute manner...the foam heights reproduced are specific for the test procedure selected and have no general validity. (10)... 

The purpose of the one atmosphere experiment described herein is to determine the relative not the absolute foaming properties of surfactants and to determine the best candidates for evaluation under realistic reservoir conditions. Therefore, the dependence of foam volumes on the experiment design are not of concern as long as the one atmosphere experiments are performed in a reproducible manner and the test design is such as to distinguish between poor, mediocre, and good candidates for testing under reservoir conditions. ... 

Increasing the test pressure from one atmosphere to 2500 psig COj did not alter the effect of surfactant chemical structure on relative foaming performance. 

Of the surfactants tested, AEGS surfactants produced the most persistent foams at high salinity and elevated temperatures in the presence of synthetic and crude oils (in one atmosphere experiments). ... 

The atmospheric static foam test method (Borchardt et al., 1988) was used in order to determine comparative performance of the neutralized VA/AA surfactant. In a 25-ml graduated cylinder, 10 ml of 0.5wt% surfactant in brine (1.5X, which contained 15.57 wt% NaCl and 1.14 wt% CaCl2), and 3 ml crude oil were mixed by vertical shaking, and the foam volume measured vs time. Two kinds of crude oil were used a heavy one and a light one. 

Gas-Filled Porous Insulations. Table I shows some of the results of tests on porous or vesicular materials. One test sample was 1-in. thick sintered perlite, evacuated to 4 X 10 torr. The other was a foam-filled honeycomb, f in. thick, in a helium atmosphere tested between room and liquid-hydrogen temperatures. The heat flux for this sample reached 600 Btu/hr-ft-, which approached the design limit of the apparatus. In another test the foam-filled honeycomb sample was filled with nitrogen and allowed to cryopump. 

Tests over 21 days at 35 °C in a saturated atmosphere at 100% humidity have shown that phenolic resins are the only ones capable of creating an atmosphere that is slightly aggressive to aluminium or that leads to a slight pickling of aluminium in contact with these resins [19]. Polyurethane foam has only a very moderate action on aluminium [20, 21]. Moisture trapped inside the foam or at the interface between the two materials is likely to be the main cause of this superficial corrosion, which is seen after delamination or separation of aluminium from the foam. 

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