Experimental Investigation on the Impact of Acoustic Vibrations on Rock Permeability While Filtration of Crude Petroleum with Wax Particles

The work focuses on studying the effect of acoustic vibrations on the permeability of rocks during filtration of crude petroleum with wax particles blocking the rock pore space. Field data demonstrate three stages of after-treatment well rate behavior, such as a steep rise, a relatively stable plateau and an exponential decline. The new experimental evidence that the permeability of rocks is sensitive to acoustic vibrations only when filtering the crude petroleum with heavy wax particles, and not sensitive to single-phase liquids is revealed. The rock permeability changes depending on frequency of acoustic vibrations with the most intense response of the rock of 28 kHz at which the permeability is restored. The chemical analysis demonstrated that heavy wax particles (paraffins, asphaltenes) of crude petroleum remain in samples. Acoustic vibrations remove heavy wax particles from rocks, restoring its permeability. The efficiency of rock permeability restoration under acoustic vibrations impact increases with an increase in temperature of crude petroleum from 22 to 25 °C.