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Motion of oil in water induced by osmosis in a confined system

Erwan Crestel1, Anežka Kvasničková1, Enric Santanach-Carreras2, Jérôme Bibette1, and Nicolas Bremond1,*

  • 1Laboratoire Colloïdes et Matériaux Divisés, CBI, ESPCI Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
  • 2Total SA, Pôle d'Etudes et Recherche de Lacq, BP 47, 64170 Lacq, France

  • *Nicolas.Bremond@espci.fr
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Phys. Rev. Fluids 5, 104003 – Published 2 October, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.5.104003

Abstract

Gradients of chemical potentials in a multiphase system induce mass transport and thus motion of liquid-liquid interfaces. We probe the displacement of oil on a solid substrate immersed in water through this osmosis phenomenon by using two experimental microfluidic systems. The first one, based on glass capillary, is used to quantify the permeability to water of oils sandwiched between two different salt solutions that set the water flux and thus oil motion dynamics. In the context of oil recovery, in particular in the case of low-salinity water flooding, we show that the presence of asphaltenes increases the flux of water and thus the velocity of oil. The second system involves microfabricated cavities that play the role of dead-end pores where oil is trapped in the presence of a salt crystal. The salt crystal allows nucleation of a water drop inside the microcavities that swells under osmosis, thus moving oil out of the dead-end pore model. The efficiency of oil removing from the model crevice is shown to be a function of geometrical and wetting properties, including heterogeneities of surface features. Counterintuitively, it is less probable for oil to move out from a hydrophilic cavity than from a hydrophobic one. Experimental observations are rationalized by geometrical arguments.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Fluids 5, 104003– Published 2 October, 2020
  • Received 11 May 2020
  • Accepted 10 September 2020
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