Experimental study of hydrodynamic effects in the inverse water hydrocarbon emulsions flow in microchannels

The paper presents results of hydrodynamic and rheological studies of the inverse water hydrocarbon emulsions. The success of the application of invert emulsions in the petroleum industry due, along with the high viscosity of the emulsion, greatly exceeding the viscosity of the carrier phase, the dynamic blocking effect, which consists in the fact that the rate of flow of emulsions in capillary structures and cracks falls with time to 3-4 orders, despite the permanent pressure drop. The reported study shows an increase in viscosity with increasing concentration or dispersion of emulsion. The increase in dispersion of w/o emulsion leads to an acceleration of the onset of dynamic blocking. The use of microfluidic devices, is made by soft photolithography, along with high-speed photography (10,000 frames/s), allowed us to see in the blocking condition the deformation of the microdroplets of water in inverse emulsion prepared from simple chemical compounds.