Technical Committee Production Engineering
Acoustic Wave Emission for Enhanced Oil Recovery (WAVE.O.R.)
In the project WAVE.O.R the potential of acoustic waves to enhance oil recovery wasreviewed. The project focused on laboratory experiments of the oil displacement insandstone cores under acoustic stimulation. Additionally, the Seismic PredictionWhile Drilling (SPWD) borehole device prototype was set up for a feasibility field test.
The laboratory experiments showed that, depending on the stimulation frequency,acoustic stimulation allows for an enhanced oil recovery. For single frequency stimu-lation a mean increase of 3 % pore volumes was observed at distinguished frequen-cies. A cyclic stimulation, where two of these frequencies were combined, an in-crease of 5% pore volume was observed.
The SPWD borehole device was tested and adjusted during feasibility tests in theGFZ underground laboratory in the research and education mine “Reiche Zeche” ofthe TU Bergakademie Freiberg and in the GFZ KTB-Deep Laboratory in Windisch-eschenbach. The first successful test of the device under realistic conditions wasperformed at the test site „Piana di Toppo“ of the OGS Trieste, Italy.