SANS identification of middle-phase microemulsion in-situ formed in porous media

The middle-phase microemulsion formed under equilibrium conditions has been widely reported. Previous works on middle-phase microemulsion mainly focused on the screening of formulations through phase behavior tests. It is still unclear whether the screened formulation at equilibrium conditions could be employed to generate microemulsions during the two-phase flow in porous media. This proposal will focus on the quantitative investigation of the microemulsion morphology and size parameters by SANs. The results are expected to provide direct evidence for in-situ micro-emulsification during surfactant flooding.

平衡条件下形成的中相微乳液已被广泛报道。此前针对中相微乳液的研究多通过相行为测试开展配方筛选工作。但目前仍未明确：平衡条件下筛选得到的配方是否可应用于多孔介质内的两相流动过程以生成微乳液。本研究将依托小角度中子散射（Small-Angle Neutron Scattering, SANs）技术，对微乳液的形貌与尺寸参数开展定量研究。预期本研究结果可为表面活性剂驱过程中的原位微乳化现象提供直接实验证据。