The solid particles in the produced fluids from the oil wells treated by compound flooding can greatly stabilize the strength of the interfacial film and enhance the stability of the emulsion, increasing the difficulty of processing these produced fluids on the ground. In this paper, the oil phase and the water phase were separated from the SPAN series emulsions by electrical dehydration technology and adding demulsifier agents. The changing trends of the current at both ends of the electrodes were recorded during the process. The efficient demulsification of the emulsion containing solid particles was studied from the perspective of oil-water separation mechanisms. Combined with the method of molecular dynamics simulation, the effect of the addition of a demulsifier on the free movement characteristics of crude oil molecules at the position of the liquid film of the emulsion were further analyzed. The results indicated that the presence of solid particles greatly increased the emulsifying ability of the emulsion and reduced its size. Under the synergistic effect of demulsifier and electric dehydration, the demulsification effect of the emulsion increased significantly, and the demulsification rate could reach more than 82%. The addition of demulsifiers changed the stable surface state of the solid particles. The free movement ability of the surrounding crude oil molecules was enhanced, which led to a decrease in the strength of the emulsion film so that the water droplets in the emulsions were more likely to coalesce and break. These results are of great significance for the efficient treatment of wastewater from oilfields, promoting the sustainability of environment-friendly oilfield development.

Surfactants play a vital role in the working fluid during the exploitation of tight reservoirs. The main goal is to clarify the mechanism of surfactant production enhancement in the reservoir. In this paper, starting from the interface properties and emulsifying properties of surfactants, the factors affecting the stripping of crude oil by different surfactants were described in detail. Meanwhile, the imbibition experiments of cores were used to clarify the two spontaneous imbibition mechanisms of the surfactant. Namely, they are the capillary force expulsion caused by the emulsion stripping thermal diffusion–convection and the wettability change. When the interfacial tension between the surfactant and oil is in the range of 10–2–10–3 mN/m, the particle size of emulsion is less than 1 μm, and the oil stripping efficiency is greater than 58%. The imbibition is mainly caused by thermal diffusion–convection. The wetting angle of the surfactant mainly changing wettability is less than 15°, and the adhesion work is greater than 52 mN/m. Using X-ray computed tomography, the surfactant imbibition distance of different permeability types of cores was obtained. The results show that higher permeability cores have a deeper imbibition distance. The results of this paper enrich the mechanism of enhanced oil recovery by surfactants and have important implications for the exploitation of tight reservoirs.

For the development of tight reservoirs, large-scale volume fracturing is frequently utilized as an effective production enhancement strategy. However, there is a significant decrease in productivity after fracturing. Improvement of production through secondary surfactant huff-n-puff has become one of the methods. In this paper, the characteristics of surfactant percolation during huff-n-puff were analyzed from macroscopic and microscopic perspectives. The production variation characteristics of the huff-n-puff were calculated by experiments and numerical methods. From Stokes' equations and phase field equations, solutions were found to analyze the effect of interfacial properties on surfactant percolation from the microscopic perspective. The findings demonstrated that a surfactant with a high displacement efficiency could not considerably increase huff-n-puff production, whereas the percolation rate had a wider influence. The surfactant with ultralow interfacial tension (12.6°) has a faster percolation rate. Significant huff-n-puff production can be obtained in the percolation rate range of 1.38 to 1.63 m/PV. Simultaneously, the concepts of limit and optimal injection volume were established and utilized to characterize the influence of injection parameters on production under nonextension fracture situations. Based on the data, in order to obtain high production in a short time, the injection strength should be near to the value at fracture extension, and the optimum injection volume is 1000-1200 m³/m. The findings of this study have the potential to guide the selection of the surfactant and injection parameters in the field.

The surfactant solution is crucial in facilitating the spontaneous imbibition process for the recovery of oil in tight reservoirs. Further investigation is required to examine the fluid flow in porous mediums and the process of crude oil stripping by a surfactant solution during spontaneous imbibition. Hence, this study aims to determine the free motion properties of oil and water in porous mediums using the finite-element approach to solve the multiphase flow differential equation, taking into account the capillary pressure. An investigation was conducted to examine the impact of oil viscosity and interfacial tension on the mean liquid flow rate and oil volume fraction. An experimental study was conducted to investigate the impact of surface tension, interfacial tension, and wetting angle on crude-oil-stripping efficiency. The findings indicate that the stripped crude oil migrated through porous mediums as individual oil droplets, exhibiting a degree of stochasticity in its motion. When the interfacial tension is reduced, the average velocity of the fluid in the system decreases. The crude oil exhibited a low viscosity, high flow capacity, and a high average flow rate within the system. Once the concentration of the surfactant solution surpasses a specific threshold, it binds with the oil to create colloidal aggregates, resulting in the formation of micelles and influencing the efficiency of the stripping process. As the temperature rises, the oil-stripping efficiency also increases. Simultaneously, an optimal range of wetting angle, surface tension, and interfacial tension could enhance the effectiveness of removing oil using surfactant solutions. The research results of this paper enrich the enhanced oil recovery mechanism of surfactant and are of great significance to the development of tight reservoirs.