Investigation on particulate interference in optical measurement for multicomponent thermal fluid injected into heavy oil reservoir

ABSTRACT

Laser detection of multicomponent thermal fluid (MTF) component content plays an important role in injection parameter adjustment, heavy oil productivity prediction, and generator combustion process optimization. Due to regional hypoxia and other reasons, the nonabsorption loss of laser energy caused by soot and other particulates in MTFs seriously interferes with laser detection accuracy. In the present work, the particulates agglomeration behaviors in the optical access port at injection velocities and different particulate sizes are studied by Euler–Lagrange method combined with the discrete phase model. The discrete grid average concentration mapping method is developed to apply the computational fluid dynamics simulation results of particulate spatial distribution to the optical simulation step. The particulate interference water vapor concentration laser detection experiment based on the direct absorption spectroscopy method is carried out. The results show that the particulate distribution concentration in the optical access port decreases with the increase in particulate size and flow velocity. The receiving irradiation intensity at a scattering interference with particulate size of 10 μm decreases by 13.6%. The absorption of particulates to the laser energy accounts for more than 95% of the laser intensity loss. The peak value of spectral absorption signal decreases gradually with the decrease in quartz sand particles size. Both the simulation and experimental results have shown that smaller particulate size causes more adverse effect for the absorption signal of MTF laser detection, which leads to lower signal-to-noise ratio.

KEYWORDS:

• Gas–solid coupling flow field
• heavy oil reservoir
• multicomponent thermal fluid
• optical measurement
• particulate interference

Acknowledgements

This research is funded by the Postdoctoral Researchers Settle Down in Heilongjiang Scientific Research Funding (No. BHL-Q20101), the Open project of MOE Key Laboratory for Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery (No. NEPU-EOR-2019-14) and the Excellent Young and Middle-Aged Scientific Researching Innovation Group Project of Northeast Petroleum University (No. KYCXTD201901).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

CRediT author statement

Yan Lv: Conceptualization; Writing – Original Draft. Huiqi Zhang: Software; Di Wang: Methodology; Data Curation; Writing – Review & Editing Dong Li: Resources; Funding acquisition; Project administration. Yushuang Li: Formal analysis; Visualization. Pinye Li: Validation. Yanlei Liu: Investigation; Supervision.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the the Postdoctoral Researchers Settle Down in Heilongjiang Scientific Research Funding [BHL-Q20101]; the Open project of MOE Key Laboratory for Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery [NEPU-EOR-2019-14]; and the Excellent Young and Middle-Aged Scientific Researching Innovation Group Project of Northeast Petroleum University [KYCXTD201901].

Notes on contributors

Yan Lv

Yan Lv received the Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering and technology from Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China, in 2022. She is currently an Associate Professor with School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China. Her research interests include the monitoring of heavy oil thermal recovery parameters and the theory of tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy.

Huiqi Zhang

Zhang Huiqi received the B.S. degree in traffic equipment and control engineering from Nantong University, Nantong, China, in 2021. She is currently working toward the M.S. degree in optical engineering with the School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China. Her research interests include optical path analysis, gas content laser detection, and photodetection instrument and signal processing.

Di Wang

Di Wang received the B.S. degree in energy and power engineering from Yantai University, Yantai, China, in 2015, and the M.S. degree in power engineering from Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China, in 2019. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering and technology with the School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China. His research interests include flow field detection of combustion system and pollution emissions monitoring in oilfield standoff.

Dong Li

Dong Li received the Ph.D. degree in engineering thermophysics from Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, in 2013. From April 2014 to July 2019, he held a postdoctoral position at Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China. He is currently a Full Professor and the Vice Dean of the School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China. Prof. Li also acts as the committee member of the Thermal Utilization Professional Committee, China Renewable Energy Society. He has more than 210 publications, including journal articles, research reports, conference papers, and books. His current research interests are energy efficiency, multiphase flow measurement, and photothermal transmission characteristics of gas detection.

Yushuang Li

Yushuang Li received the B.S. degree from the Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China, in 2001, and the M.S. degree from Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China, in 2011. He is currently an Associate Professor with School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China. His research focuses on the gas laser detection and equipment development.

Pinye Li

Pinye Li received the B.S. degree in energy and power engineering from Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng, China, in 2021. He is currently working toward the M.S. degree in power engineering and engineering thermophysics with the School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China. His research interests include fluid-structure interaction in pressure pipes, particle light scattering, and thermal radiation transfer.

Yanlei Liu

Yanlei Liu received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, China, in 2003 and 2006, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2013. He is currently an Professorate Senior Engineer and Director of Science and Technology R&D Center, Hangzhou Special Equipment Inspection and Research Institute, Hangzhou, and with joint appointments at Northeast Petroleum University. His current research interests include failure assessment, instrumentation, and safety detection in special energy equipment.