Fluorescent visualization of oil displacement in a microfluidic device for enhanced oil recovery applications

Analyst. 2021 Nov 8;146(22):6746-6752. doi: 10.1039/d1an01333e.

Abstract

A microfluidic device was developed to mimic the reservoir pore-scale and track the oil/water phases during air flooding. The chip was generated by combining soft-lithography and NOA81 replication. A unique feature of this approach is the inclusion of fluorescent dyes into the oil/water phases, allowing for real-time visualization of oil recovery without altering the phases' surface properties. As a proof of concept, the air was injected into the water/oil-flooded device for enhanced oil recovery applications.

MeSH terms

  • Lab-On-A-Chip Devices*