CO2 flooding can effectively improve oil recovery in low permeability reservoirs, but the high minimum miscible pressure (MMP) increase the difficulty of oil recovery. This paper initiates the ultrasonic-assisted approach to facilitate the oil-gas miscibility development and finally contribute to unlock more tight oils. (First, the physical properties of crude oil with and without ultrasonic treatments were experimentally analysed through gas chromatography, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and viscometer. Second, the oil-gas minimum miscibility pressures were measured from the slim-tube test and the miscibility developments with and without ultrasonic treatments were interpreted from the mixing-cell method. Finally, the nuclear-magnetic resonance assisted coreflood tests the recovery process in porous media and directly obtain the recovery factor.)Basically, the ultrasonic treatment was found to substantially change the oil properties, with viscosity reduced from 4.1 to 2.8 mPa·s, contents of resin and asphaltene decreased from 27.9% and 6.0% to 14.2% and 3.8%, respectively. The unsaturated C-H bond, C-O bond and C≡C bond in macromolecules were broken from ultrasonic, which caused the macromolecules to be decomposed into smaller carbon-number molecules. Accordingly, the minimum miscible pressure was determined to be reduced from 15.9 to 14.8 MPa and the oil recovery factor increased by over 10%. This study reveals the mechanisms of ultrasonic-assisted CO2 miscibility to improve the oil recovery of low permeability, and provides theoretical guidance for the field application of ultrasound-assisted oil displacement in the later stage.
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