Foam Transport in Porous Media

Foams are essential in a variety of geophysical systems such as enhanced oil recovery, environmental remediation, to subsurface carbon dioxide sequestration. Thus, there is a need to understand the fundamental physicochemical processes associated with foam to predict its behavior in geological environments. Microfluidics have been proven effective in visualizing small-scale events and processes that would otherwise be difficult to observe in natural confined systems. Here, a microfluidic device designed to mimic natural heterogeneous sandstone porous media is employed to investigate the effects of gas types on gas trapping, foam texture, foam stability, and phase mobility in quasi-steady-state flowing foam. Phenomena such as foam bubble trapping and lamellae division will be compared.