When DME solution is injected into the reservoir and contact with oil, DME in oil phase leads to oil swelling, moreover, it decreases oil viscosity and improves the mobility.
The main objectives of this project are determining the DME distribution coefficients in water and oil phase through experiments, and exploring the physical mechanisms of DME flooding and demonstrating the extra oil recovery. Phase behavior of DME/brine and DME/crude mixtures will be investigated, with focus on the partitioning of the solvent between brine and crude.
Core flooding experiments will be conducted on both chalk and sandstone cores of varying permeability to investigate the dynamic DME/crude behavior and DME/rock interaction. The experimental results will be used to build phase equilibrium models.