Flow of Oil Emulsion Through Porous Media

The flow through porous media of oil emulsion is reported in this paper. Base oil, water and Triton X-100 were used to produce O/W and W/O type emulsions. Shear stress, shear rate, and yield stress were measured for the emulsions at different temperatures and oil concentrations.Results show that at low oil concentration (10% to 40%), the emulsion was oil in water type and a Newtonian behavior was observed with viscosity ranging from 1.5 to 7.7 cP. Medium oil concentration (50% to 60%) data were interpreted in terms of the power law model relationship for non-Newtonian fluid. While at high oil concentrations (70% to 90%) data were interpreted in terms of the Hershel- Bulkley model relationship for a non-Newtonian fluid with yield stress. At high oil concentration of 50 – 90% oil, the emulsion was water in oil type.Data for porous packed bed of glass beads are presented using friction factor and a general Reynolds number for the flow through porous media, which includes a fluid yield stress.