Flow of oil-water emulsions through a constricted capillary

The flow of oil-in-water emulsions through quartz micro-capillary tubes was analyzed experimentally. The capillaries were used as models of connecting pore-throats between adjacent pore body pairs in high-permeability media. Pressure drop between the inlet and outlet ends of the capillary was recorded as a function of time, for several values of the volumetric flow rate. Several distinct emulsions were prepared using synthetic oils in deionized water, stabilized by a surfactant (Triton X-100). Two oils of different viscosity values were used to prepare the emulsions, while two distinct drop size distributions were obtained by varying the mixing procedure. The average oil drop size varied from smaller to larger than the neck radius. The results are presented in terms of the extra-pressure drop due to the presence of the dispersed phase, i.e. the difference between the measured pressure drop and the one necessary to drive the continuous phase alone at the same flow rate. For emulsions with drops smaller than the capillary throat diameter, the extra-pressure drop does not vary with capillary number and it is a function of the viscosity ratio, dispersed phase concentration and drop size distribution. For emulsions with drops larger than the constriction, the large oil drops may partially block the capillary, leading to a high extra pressure difference at low capillary numbers. Changes in the local fluid mobility by means of pore-throat blockage may help to explain the additional oil recovery observed in laboratory experiments and the sparse data on field trials. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.