To speed up coreflood experiments, we have developed a state of the art experimental setup (CAL-X) designed for high throughput coreflood experimentation. The setup is composed of an X-ray radiography facility, a fully instrumented multi-fluid injection platform and a dedicated X-ray transparent core holder. The equipment was designed to handle small samples of 10 mm in diameter and 20 mm in length, and can be operated at up to 150 bar and 150 °C. The X-ray facility consists of a high power X-ray tube and a high speed- low noise detector allowing real-time radiography acquisition and offering sufficient density resolution to use dopant-free fluids. The injection platform is fully automated and allows the control and monitoring of different parameters (pressure, temperature, flow rate…). 1-D and 2-D saturation profiles are followed in real-time, allowing a precise determination of the recovery curve, reducing thus drastically time-consuming effluent measurements. Using this setup, a typical coreflood experiment can be run in less than a day. To validate the setup we have run a series of experiments on water-wet sandstone samples to determine capillary desaturation curve, steady-state relative permeabilities and recovery factor for a formulation designed for high temperature conditions (110°C). The results show good repeatability as well as good agreement when compared to standard coreflood experiments. In the recovery factor experiment, during surfactant injection, the formation and displacement of an oil bank was observed, yielding a recovery factor of 92% OOIP.
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